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HI S T E Y 



CYRUS THE GREAT. 



BY JACOB ABBOTT. 



®©ft|> 35itflrabinii». 



NEW YORK: 

HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, , -;/) 

82 CLIFF STREET. 



^ 



-9^ 






Entered, according to Act of Congi-ess, in the year one thousand 
eight hundred and fifty, by 

Harper & Brothers, 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southei'n District 
of New York. 

Gift 
Mrs.Hennen Jennings 
April 26, 1933 



PREFACE. 



One special object which the author of this 
series has had in view, in the plan and method 
which he has followed in the preparation of the 
successive volumes, has been to adapt them to 
the purposes of text-books in schools. The 
study of a general compend of history, such as 
is frequently used as a text-book, is highly use- 
ful, if it comes in at the right stage of educa- 
tion, when the mind is sufficiently matured, and 
has acquired sufficient preliminary knowledge 
to understand and appreciate so condensed a 
generalization as a; suaiamaryiof the whole his- 
tory of a nation contained in an ordinary volume 
must necessarily be. Without this degree of 
maturity of mind, and this preparation, the 
study of such a work will be, as it too frequent- 
ly is, a mere mechanical committing to mem- 
ory of names, and dates, and phrases, which 
awaken no interest, communicate no ideas, and 
impart no useful knowledge to the mind. 

A class of ordinary pupils, who have not yet 



vi Preface. 

become much acquainted with history, would, 
accordingly, be more benefited by having their 
attention concentrated, at first, on detached 
and separate topics, such as those which form 
the subjects, respectively, of these volumes. 
By studying thus fully the history of individual 
monarchs, or the narratives of single events, 
they can go more fully into detail ; they con- 
ceive of the transactions described as realities ; 
their reflecting and reasoning powers are occu- 
pied on what they read; they take notice of 
the motives of conduct, of the gradual develop- 
ment of character, the good or ill desert of ac- 
tions, and of the connection of causes and con- 
sequences, both in respect to the influence of 
wisdom and virtue on the one hand, and, on 
the other, of folly and crime. In a word, their 
minds a.nd hearts are occupied instead of mere- 
ly their memories. They reason, they sympa- 
thize, they pity, they approve, and they con- 
demn. They enjoy the real and true pleasure 
which constitutes the charm of historical study 
for minds that are mature; and they acquire 
a taste for truth instead of fiction, which will 
tend to direct their reading into proper channels 
in all future years. 

The use of these works, therefore, as text- 
books in classes, has been kept continually in 



Preface. vii 

mind in the preparation of them. The running 
index on the tops of the pages is intended to 
serve instead of questions. These captions can 
be used in their present form as topics, in re- 
spect to which, when announced in the class, 
the pupils are to repeat substantially what is 
said on the page ; or, on the other hand, ques- 
tions in form, if that mode is preferred, can be 
readily framed from them by the teacher. In 
all the volumes, a very regular system of divi- 
sion into chapters is observed, which will great- 
ly facilitate the assignment of lessons. 



CONTENTS. 



Chapter Page 

I. HERODOTUS AND XENOPHON 13 

II. THE BIRTH OF CYRUS 37 

III. THE VISIT TO MEDIA B8 

IV. CRffiSUS 101 

V. ACCESSION OF CYRUS TO THE THRONE 124 

VI. THE ORACLES 144 

VII. THE CONQUEST OF LYDIA 164 

VIII. THE CONQUEST OF BABYLON 187 

IX. THE RESTORATION OF THE JEWS 207 

X. THE STORY OF PANTHEA 226 

XI. CONVERSATIONS 253 

XII. THE DEATH OF CYRUS.. 270 



ENGRAVINGS. 



Page 
MAP OF THE PERSIAN EMPIRE Fwntisjpiece. 

the exposure of the infant „ 48 

Cyrus's hunting 90 

the secret correspondence 132 

the siege of sardis 179 

raising jeremiah from the dungeon 219 

the war-chariot of abradates . . , , 242 



CYRUS THE GREAT, 



Chapter I. 
Herodotus and Xenophon. 

The Persian monarchy. Singular principle of human natore, 

CYRUS was the founder of the ancient Per- 
sian empire — a monarchy, perhaps, the 
most wealthy and magnificent which the world 
has ever seen. Of that strange and incompre- 
hensible principle of human nature, under the 
influence of which vast masses of men, notwith- 
standing the universal instinct of aversion to 
control, combine, under certain circumstances, 
by millions and millions, to maintain, for many 
successive centuries, the representatives of some 
one great family in a condition of exalted, and 
absolute, and utterly irresponsible ascendency 
over themselves, while they toil for them, watch 
over them, submit to endless and most humil- 
iating privations in their behalf, and commit, 
if commanded to do so, the most inexcusable 
and atrocious crimes to sustain the demigods 



14 Cyrus the Great. [B.C. 550. 

Grandeur of the Persian monarchy. Its origin. 

they have thus made in their lofty estate, we 
have, in the case of this Persian monarchy, one 
of the most extraordinary exhibitions. 

The Persian monarchy appears, in fact, even 
as we look back upon it from this remote dis- 
tance both of space and of time, as a very vast 
wave of human power and grandeur. It swelled 
up among the populations of Asia, between the 
Persian Gulf and the Caspian Sea, about five 
hundred years before Christ, and rolled on in 
undiminished magnitude and glory for many 
centuries. It bore upon its crest the royal line 
of Astyages and his successors. Cyrus was, 
however, the first of the princes whom it held 
up conspicuously to the admiration of the world, 
and he rode so gracefully and gallantly on the 
lofty crest that mankind have given him the 
credit of raising and sustaining the magnificent 
billow on which he was borne. How far we 
are to consider him as founding the monarchy, 
or the monarchy as raising and illustrating him, 
will appear more fully in the course of this nar- 
rative. 

Cotemporaneous with this Persian monar- 
chy in the East, there flourished in the West 
the small but very efficient and vigorous re- 
publics of Greece. The Greeks had a written 



B.C.550.] Herodotus and Xenophon. 15 

The republics of Greece, Written characters Greek and Persian. 

character for their language which could be 
easily and rapidly executed, while the ordinary 
language of the Persians was scarcely written 
at all. There was, it is true, in this latter na- 
tion, a certain learned character, which was 
used by the priests for their mystic records, 
and also for certain sacred books which consti- 
tuted the only national archives. It was, how- 
ever, only slowly and with difficulty that this 
character could be penned, and, when penned, 
it was unintelligible to the great mass of the 
population. For this reason, among others, 
the Greeks wrote narratives of the great events 
which occurred in their day, which narratives 
they so embellished and adorned by the pictur- 
esque lights and shades in which their genius 
enabled them to present the scenes and charac- 
ters described as to make them universally ad- 
mired, while the surrounding nations produced 
nothing but formal governmental records, not 
worth to the community at large the toil and la- 
bor necessary to decipher them and make them 
intelligible. Thus the Greek writers became 
the historians, not only of their own republics, 
but also of all the nations around them ; and 
with such admirable genius and power did they 
fulfill this function, that, while the records of al] 



16 Cyrus the Great. [B.C. 550. 

Preservation of the Greek language. Herodotus and Xenophon, 

other nations cotemporary with them have 
been almost entirely neglected and forgotten, 
the language of the Greeks has been preserved 
among mankind, with infinite labor and toil, by 
successive generations of scholars, in every civ- 
ilized nation, for two thousand years, solely in 
order that men may continue to read these tales. 

Two Greek historians have given us a nar- 
rative of the events connected with the life of 
Cyrus — Herodotus and Xenophon. These wri- 
ters disagree very materially in the statements 
which they make, and modern readers are di- 
vided in opinion on the question which to believe. 
In order to present this question fairly to the 
minds of our readers, we must commence this 
volume with some account of these two au- 
thorities, whose guidance, conflicting as it is, 
furnishes all the light which we have to follow. 

Herodotus was a philosopher and scholar. 
Xenophon was a great general. The one spent 
his life in solitary study, or in visiting various 
countries in the pursuit of knowledge ; the oth- 
er distinguished himself in the command of ar- 
mies, and in distant military expeditions, which 
he conducted with great energy and skill. 
They were both, by birth, men of wealth and 
high station, so that they occupied, from the 



B.C.484.] Herodotus and Xenophon. 17 

Birth of Herodotus. Education of the Greeks. 

beginning, conspicuous positions in society ; and 
as they were both energetic and enterprising in 
character, they were led, each, to a very ro- 
mantic and adventurous career, the one in his 
travels, the other in his campaigns, so that their 
personal history and their exploits attracted 
great attention even while they lived. 

Herodotus was born in the year 484 before 
Christ, which was about fifty years after the 
death of the Cyrus whose history forms the sub- 
ject of this volume. He was born in the Gre- 
cian state of Caria, in Asia Minor, and in the 
city of Halicarnassus. Caria, as may be seen 
from the map at the commencement of this vol- 
ume, was in the southwestern part of Asia Mi- 
nor, near the shores of the ^gean Sea. He- 
rodotus became a student at a very early age. 
It was the custom in Greece, at that time, to 
give to young men of his rank a good intellect- 
ual education. In other nations, the training 
of the young men, in wealthy and powerful fam- 
ilies, was confined almost exclusively to the use 
of arms, to horsemanship, to athletic feats, and 
other such accomplishments as would give them 
a manly and graceful personal bearing, and en- 
able them to excel in the various friendly con- 
tests of the public games, as well as prepare 
B 



18 ^ Cyrus the Great. [B.C. 450. 

How public affairs were discussed. Literary entertainments. 

them to maintain their ground against their 
enemies in personal combats on the field of 
battle. The Greeks, without neglecting these 
things, taught their young men also to read and 
to write, explained to them the structure and 
the philosophy of language, and trained them 
to the study of the poets, the orators, and the 
historians which their country had produced. 
Thus a general taste for intellectual pursuits 
and pleasures was diffused throughout the com- 
munity. Public affairs w^ere discussed, before 
large audiences assembled for the purpose, by 
orators who felt a great pride and pleasure in 
the exercise of the power which they had ac- 
quired of persuading, convincing, or exciting 
the mighty masses that listened to them ; and 
at the great public celebrations which were cus- 
tomary in those days, in addition to the wres- 
tlings, the races, the games, and the military 
spectacles, there were certain literary entertain- 
ments provided, which constituted an essential 
part of the public pleasures. Tragedies were 
acted, poems recited, odes and lyrics sung, and 
narratives of martial enterprises and exploits, 
and geographical and historical descriptions of 
neighboring nations, were read to vast throngs 
of listeners, who, having been accustomed from 



B.C. 450.] Herodotus and Xenophon. 1^ 

Herodotus's early love of knowledge. Intercourse of nations. 

infancy to witness such performances, and to 
hear them applauded, had learned to appreciate , 
and enjoy them. Of course, these literary ex- 
hibitions would make impressions, more or less 
strong, on different minds, as the mental tem- 
peraments and characters of individuals varied. 
They seem to have exerted a very powerful in- 
fluence on the mind of Herodotus in his early 
years. He was inspired, when very young, 
with a great zeal and ardor for the attainment 
of knowledge ; and as he advanced toward ma- 
turity, he began to be ambitious of making 
new discoveries, with a vievv^ of communicating 
to his countrymen, in these great public assem- 
blies, what he should thus acquire. Accord- 
ingly, as soon as he arrived at a suitable age, 
he resolved to set out upon a tour into foreign 
countries, and to bring back a report of what 
he should see and hear. 

The intercourse of nations was, in those days, 
mainly carried on over the waters of the Med- 
iterranean Sea ; and in times of peace, almost 
the only mode of communication was by the 
ships and the caravans of the merchants who 
traded from country to country, both by sea 
and on the land. In fact, the knowledge which 
one country possessed of the geography and the 



20 . Cyrus the Great. [B.C. 450. 

Military expeditions. Plan of Herodotus's tour. 

manners and customs of another, was almost 
wholly confined to the reports which these mer- 
chants circulated. "When military expeditions 
invaded a territory, the commanders, or the 
writers who accompanied them, often wrote 
descriptions of the scenes which they witnessed 
in their campaigns, and described briefly the 
countries through which they passed. These 
cases were, however, comparatively rare ; and 
yet, when they occurred, they furnished ac- 
counts better authenticated, and more to be re- 
lied upon, and expressed, moreover, in a more 
systematic and regular form, than the reports 
of the merchants, though the information which 
was derived from both these sources combined 
was very insufficient, and tended to excite more 
curiosity than it gratified. Herodotus, there- 
fore, conceived that, in thoroughly exploring the 
countries on the shores of the Mediterranean 
and in the interior of Asia, examining their ge- 
ographical position, inquiring into their history, 
their institutions, their manners, customs, and 
laws, and writing the results for the entertain- 
ment and instruction of his countrymen, he had 
an ample field before him for the exercise of all 
his powers. 

He went first to Egypt. Egypt had been, 



B.C. 450.] Herodotus and Xenophon. 21 

Herodotus visits Egypt. Libya and the Straits of Gibraltar. 

until that time, closely shut up from the rest 
of mankind by the jealousy and watchfulness 
of the government. But now, on account of 
some recent political changes, which will be 
hereafter more particularly alluded to, the way 
was opened for travelers from other countries 
to come in. Herodotus was the first to avail 
himself of this opportunity. He spent some 
time in the country, and made himself minutely 
acquainted with its history, its antiquities, its 
political and social condition at the time of his 
visit, and with all the other points in respect 
to which he supposed that his countrymen 
would wish to be informed. He took copious 
notes of all that he saw. From Egypt he 
went eastward into Libya, and thence he trav- 
eled slowly along the whole southern shore of 
the Mediterranean Sea as far as to the Straits of 
Gibraltar, noting, with great care, every thing 
which presented itself to his own personal ob- 
servation, and availing himself of every possi- 
ble source of information in respect to all other 
points of importance for the object which he 
had in view. 

The Straits of Gibraltar were the ends of the 
earth toward the westward in those ancient 
days, and our traveler accordingly, after reach- 



22 Cyrus the Great. [B.C. 450. 

Route of Herodotus in Asia, His return to Greece. 

ing them, returned again to the eastward. He 
visited Tyre, and the cities of Phoenicia, on the 
eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, and 
thence went still further eastward to Assyria 
and Babylon. It was here that he obtained 
the materials for what he has written in respect 
to the Medes and Persians, and to the history 
of Cyrus. After spending some time in these 
countries, he went on by land still further to 
the eastward, into the heart of Asia. The 
country of Scythia was considered as at " the 
end. of the earth" in this direction. Herodotus 
penetrated for some distance into the almost 
trackless wilds of this remote land, until he 
found that he had gone as far from the great 
center of light and power on the shores of the 
.iEgean Sea as he could expect the curiosity 
of his countrymen to follow him. He passed 
thence round toward the north, and came down 
through the countries north of the Danube into 
Greece, by way of the Epirus and Macedon. 
To make such a journey as this was, in fact, 
in those days, almost to explore the whole known 
world. 

It ought, however, here to be stated, that 
many modern scholars, who have examined, 
with great care, the accounts which Herodotus 



B.C. 450.] Herodotus and Xenophon. 2o 

Doubts as to the extent of Herodotus's tour. His history " adorned." 

has given of what he saw and heard in his 
wanderings, doubt very seriously whether his 
journeys were really as extended as he pre- 
tends. As his object was to read what he was 
intending to write at great public assemblies 
in Greece, he was, of course, under every pos- 
sible inducement to make his narrative as in- 
teresting as possible, and not to detract at all 
from whatever there might be extraordinary 
either in the extent of his wanderings or in 
the wonderfulness of the objects and scenes 
which he saw, or in the romantic nature of the 
adventures which he met with in his protracted 
tour. Cicero, in lauding him as a writer, says 
that he was the first who evinced the power to 
ador7i a historical narrative. Between adorn- 
ing and emhellishmg^ the line is not to be very 
distinctly marked ; and Herodotus has often 
been accused of having drawn more from his 
fancy than from any other source, in respect to 
a large portion of what he relates and describes. 
Some do not believe that he ever even entered 
half the countries which he professes to have 
thoroughly explored, while others find, in the 
minuteness of his specifications, something like 
conclusive proof that he related only what he 
actually saw. In a word, the questiqn of his 



24 Cyrus THE Great. 

Herodotus's credibility questioned. Sources of bias. 

credibility has been discussed by successive 
generations of scholars ever since his day, and 
strong parties have been formed who have gone 
to extremes in the opinions they have taken ; 
so that, while some confer upon him the title 
of the father of history, others say it would be 
more in accordance with his merits to call him 
the father of lies. In controversies like this, 
and, in fact, in all controversies, it is more 
agreeable to the mass of mankind to take sides 
strongly with one party or the other, and either 
to believe or disbelieve one or the other fully 
and cordially. There is a class of minds, how- 
ever, more calm and better balanced than the 
rest, who can deny themselves this pleasure, 
and who see that often, in the most bitter and 
decided controversies, the truth lies between. 
By this class of minds it has been generally 
supposed that the narratives of Herodotus are 
substantially true, though in many cases highly 
colored and embellished, or, as Cicero called it, 
adorned, as, in fact, they inevitably must have 
been under the circumstances in which they 
were written. 

We can not follow minutely the circum- 
stances of the subsequent life of Herodotus. 
He became involved in some political disturbs 



Herodotus and Xenophon. 25 

Samoa. Patmos. The Olympiads. 

ances and difficulties in his native sta1;e after 
his return, in consequence of which he retired, 
partly a fugitive and partly an exile, to the isl- 
and of Samos, which is at a little distance from 
Caria, and not far from the shore. • Here he 
lived for some time in seclusion, occupied in 
writing out his history. He divided it into nine 
books, to which, respectively, the names of the 
nine Muses were afterward given, to designate 
them. The island of Samos, where this great 
literary work was performed, is very near to 
Patmos, where, a few hundred years later, the 
Evangelist John, in a similar retirement, and 
in the use of the same language and character, 
wrote the Book of Revelation. 

When a few of the first books of his history 
were completed, Herodotus went with the man- 
uscript to Olympia, at the great celebration of 
the 81st Olympiad. The Olympiads were pe- 
riods recurring at intervals of about four years. 
By means of them the Greeks reckoned their 
time. The Olympiads were celebrated as they 
occurred, with games, shows, spectacles, and 
parades, which were conducted on so magnifi- 
cent a scale that vast crowds were accustomed 
to assemble from every part of Greece to wit- 
ness and join in them. They were held at 



26 Cyrus THE Great. 

Herodotus at Olympia. His history received with applause. 

Olympia, a city on the western side of Greece. 
Nothing now remains to mark the spot but 
some acres of confused and unintelligible ruins. 

The personal fame of Herodotus and of his 
travels had preceded him, and when he arrived 
at Olympia he found the curiosity and eager- 
ness of the people to listen to his narratives ex- 
treme. He read copious extracts from his ac- 
counts, so far as he had written them, to the 
vast assemblies which convened to hear him, 
and they were received with unbounded ap- 
plause ; and inasmuch as these assemblies com- 
prised nearly all the statesmen, the generals, 
the philosophers, arid the scholars of Greece, 
applause expressed by them became at once 
universal renown. Herodotus was greatly grat- 
ified at the interest which his countrymen took 
in his narratives, and he determined thenceforth 
to devote his time assiduously to the continu- 
ation and completion of his work. 

It was twelve years, however, before his plan 
was finally accomplished. He then repaired to 
Athens, at the time of a grand festive celebra- 
tion which was held in that city, and there he 
appeared in public again, and read extended 
portions of the additional books that he had writ- 
ten. The admiration and applause which his 



B.C. 450.] Herodotus and Xenophon. 27 

Herodotus at Athens. His literary fame. 

work now elicited was even greater than before. 
In deciding upon the passages to be read, He- 
rodotus selected such as would be most likely to 
excite the interest of his Grecian hearers, and 
many of them were glowing accounts of Gre- 
cian exploits in former wars which had been 
waged in the countries which he had visited. 
To expect that, under such circumstances, He- 
rodotus should have made his history wholly 
impartial, would be to suppose the historian not 
human. 

The Athenians were greatly pleased with the 
narratives which Herodotus thus read to them 
of their own and of their ancestors' exploits. 
They considered him a national benefactor for 
having made such a record of their deeds, and, 
in addition to the unbounded applause which 
they bestowed upon him, they made him a pub- 
lic grant of a large sum of money. During the 
remainder of his life Herodotus continued to 
enjoy the high degree of literary renown which 
his writings had acquired for him — a renown 
which has since been extended and increased, 
rather than diminished, by the lapse of time. 

As for Xenophon, the other great historian 
of Cyrus, it has already been said that he was 
a military commander, and his life was accord- 



28 Cyrus the Great. [B.C. 401. 

Birth of Xenophon. Cyrus the Younger. 

ingly spent in a very different manner from 
that of his great competitor for historic fame. 
He was born at Athens, about thirty years after 
the birth of Herodotus, so that he was but a 
child while Herodotus was in the midst of his 
career. When he was about twenty -two years 
of age, he joined a celebrated military expedi- 
tion which was formed in Greece, for the pur- 
pose of proceeding to Asia Minor to enter into 
the service of the governor of that country. 
The name of this governor was Cyrus ; and to 
distinguish him from Cyrus the Great, whose 
history is to form the subject of this volume, 
and who lived about one hundred and fifty years 
before him, he is commonly called Cyrus the 
Younger. 

This expedition was headed by a Grecian 
general named Clearchus. The soldiers and 
the subordinate officers of the expedition did 
not know for what special service it was de- 
signed, as Cyrus had a treasonable and guilty 
object in view, and he kept it accordingly con- 
cealed, even from the agents who were to aid 
him in the execution of it. His plan was to 
make war upon and dethrone his brother Ar- 
taxerxes, then king of Persia, and consequently 
his sovereign. Cyrus was a very young man, 



B.C. 401.] Herodotus and Xenophon. 29 

Ambition of Cyrus. He attempts to assassinate his brother. 

but he was a man of a very energetic and ac- 
complished character, and of unbounded ambi- 
tion. When his father died, it was arranged 
that Artaxerxes, the older son, should succeed 
him. Cyrus was extremely unwilling to sub- 
mit to this supremacy of his brother. His moth- 
er was an artful and unprincipled woman, and 
Cyrus, being the youngest of her children, was 
her favorite. She encouraged him in his am- 
bitious designs ; and so desperate was Cyrus 
himself in his determination to accomplish 
them, that it is said he attempted to assassi- 
nate his brother on the day of his coronation. 
His attempt was discovered, and it failed. His 
brother, however, instead of punishing him for 
the treason, had the generosity to pardon him, 
and sent him to his government in Asia Minor. 
Cyrus immediately turned all his thoughts to 
the plan of raising an army and making war 
upon his brother, in order to gain forcible pos- 
session of his throne. That he might have a 
plausible pretext for making the necessary mili- 
tary preparations, he pretended to have a quarrel 
with one of his neighbors, and wrote, hypocrit- 
ically, many letters to the king, aifecting so- 
licitude for his safety, and asking aid. The 
king was thus deceived, and made no prepara- 



30 Cyrus the Great. [B.C. 401. 

Rebellion of Cyrus. The Greek auxiliaries. 

tions to resist the force which Cyrus v/as as- 
sembling, not having the remotest suspicion 
that its destiny was Babylon. 

The auxiliary army which came from Greece, 
to enter into Cyrus's service under these cir- 
cumstances, consisted of about thirteen thou- 
sand men. He had, it was said, a hundred 
thousand men besides ; but so celebrated were 
the Greeks in those days for their courage, 
their discipline, their powers of endurance, and 
their indomitable tenacity and energy, that Cy- 
rus very properly considered this corps as the 
flower of his army. Xenophon was one of the 
younger Grecian generals. The army crossed 
the Hellespont, and entered Asia Minor, and, 
passing across the country, reached at last the 
famous pass of Cilicia, in the southwestern part 
of the country — a narrow defile between the 
mountains and the sea, which, opens the only 
passage in that quarter toward the Persian re- 
gions beyond. Here the suspicions which the 
Greeks had been for some time inclined to feel, 
that they were going to make war upon the 
Persian monarch himself, were confirmed, and 
they refused to proceed. Their unwillingness, 
however, did not arise from any compunctions 
of conscience about the guilt of treason, or the 



B.C. 401.] Herodotus and Xenophon. 31 

Artaxerxes assembles his army. The battle. 

wickedness of helping an ungrateful and un- 
principled wretch, whose forfeited life had onoe 
been given to him by his brother, in making 
war upon and destroying his benefactor. Sol- 
diers have never, in any age of the world, any 
thijig to do with compunctions of conscience 
in respect to the work which their command- 
ers give them to perform. The Greeks were 
perfectly willing to serve in this or in any other 
undertaking ; but, since it was rebellion and 
treason that was asked of them, they consider- 
ed it as specially hazardous, and so they con- 
cluded that they were entitled to extra pay. 
Cyrus made no objection to this demand; an 
arrangement was made accordingly, and the 
army went on. 

Artaxerxes assembled suddenly the whole 
force of his empire on the plains of Babylon — 
an immense army, consisting, it is said, of over 
a million of men. Such vast forces occupy, 
necessarily, a wide extent of country, even 
when drawn up in battle array. So great, in 
fact, was the extent occupied in this case, that 
the Greeks, who conquered all that part of the 
king's forces which was directly opposed to 
them, supposed, when night came, at the close 
of the day of battle, that Cyrus had been every 



32 Cyrus the Great. [B.C. 401. 

Cyrus slain. Murder of the Greek generals. 

where victorious ; and they were only ' unde- 
ceived when, the next day, messengers came 
from the Persian camp to inform them that Cy- 
rus's whole force, excepting themselves, was 
defeated and dispersed, and that Cyrus himself 
was slain, and to summon them to surrender at 
once and unconditionally to the conquerors. 

The Greeks refused to surrender. They form- 
ed themselves immediately into a compact and 
solid body, fortified themselves as well as they 
could in their position, and prepared for a desper- 
ate defense. There were about ten thousand of 
them left, and the Persians seem to have consid- 
ered them too formidable to be attacked. The 
Persians entered into negotiations with them, of- 
fering them certain terms on which they would 
be allowed to return peaceably into Greece. 
These negotiations were protracted from day to 
day for two or three weeks, the Persians treach- 
erously using toward them a friendly tone, and 
evincing a disposition to treat them in a liberal 
and generous manner. This threw the Greeks 
off their guard, and finally the Persians contriv- 
ed to get Clearchus and the leading Greek gen- 
erals into their power at a feast, and then they 
seized and murdered them, or, as they would 
perhaps term it, executed them as rebels and 



B.C. 402.] Herodotus and Xenophon. 33 

Critical situation of the Greeks. Xenophon's proposal 

traitors. When this was reported in the Gre- 
cian camp, the whole army was thrown at first 
into the utmost consternation. They found 
themselves two thousand miles from home, in 
the heart of a hostile country, with an enemy 
nearly a hundred times their own number close 
upon them, while they themselves were with- 
out provisions, without horses, without money ; 
and there were deep rivers, and rugged mount- 
ains, and every other possible physical obstacle 
to be surmounted, before they could reach their 
own frontiers. If they surrendered to their en- 
emies, a hopeless and most miserable slavery 
was their inevitable doom. 

Under these circumstances, Xenophon, ac- 
cording to his own story, called together the 
surviving officers in the camp, urged them not 
to despair, and recommended that immediate 
measures should be taken for commencing a 
march toward Greece. He proposed that they 
should elect commanders to take the places of 
those who had been killed, and that, under their 
new organization, they should immediately set 
out on their return. These plans were adopt- 
ed. He himself was chosen as the command- 
ing general, and under his guidance the whole 
force was conducted safely through the count- 
C 



34 Cyrus the Great. [B.C. 402 

Retreat of the Ten Thousand. Xenophon's retirement. 

less difficulties and dangers which beset their 
way, though they had to defend themselves, at 
every step of their progress, from an enemy so 
vastly more numerous than they, and which 
was hanging on their flanks and on their rear, 
and making the most incessant efforts to sur- 
round and capture them. This retreat occu- 
pied two hundred and fifteen days. It has al- 
ways been considered as one of the greatest mil- 
itary achievements that has ever been perform- 
ed. It is called in history the Retreat of the 
Ten Thousand. Xenophon acquired by it a 
double immortality. He led the army, and thus 
attained to a military renown which will never 
fade ; and he afterward wrote a narrative of 
the exploit, which has given him an equally 
extended and permanent literary fame. 

Some time after this, Xenophon returned 
again to Asia as a military commander, and 
distinguished himself in other campaigns. He 
acquired a large fortune, too, in these wars, 
and at length retired to a villa, which he built 
and adorned magnificently, in the neighborhood 
of Olympia, where Herodotus had acquired so 
extended a fame by reading his histories. It 
was probably, in some degree, through the in- 
fluence of the success which had attended the 



Herodotus and Xenophon. 35 

Xenophon's writings. Credibility of Herodotus and Xenophon 

labors of Herodotus in this field, that Xenophon 
was induced to enter it. He devoted the later 
years of his life to writing various historical 
memoirs, the two most important of which that 
have come down to modern times are, first, the 
narrative of his own expedition, under Cyrus 
the Younger, and, secondly, a sort of romance 
or tale founded on the history of Cyrus the 
Great. This last is called the Cyropsedia ; and 
it is from this work, and from the history writ- 
ten by Herodotus, that nearly all our knowl- 
edge of the great Persian monarch is derived. 

The question how far the stories which He- 
rodotus and Xenophon have told us in relating 
the history of the great Persian king are true, 
is of less importance than one would at first 
imagine ; for the case is one of those numerous 
instances in which the narrative itself, which 
genius has written, has had far greater influ- 
ence on mankind than the events themselves 
exerted which the narrative professes to record. 
It is now far more important for us to know 
what the story is which has for eighteen hund- 
red years been read and listened to by every 
generation of men, than what the actual events 
were in which the tale thus told had its origin. 
This consideration applies very extensively to 



36 Cyrus THE Great. 

Importance of the story. Object of this work. 

history, and especially to ancient history. The 
events themselves have long since ceased to be 
of any great interest or importance to readers 
of the present day ; but the accounts, whether 
they are fictitious or real, partial or impartial, 
honestly true or embellished and colored, since 
they have been so widely circulated in every 
age and in every nation, and have impressed 
themselves so universally and so permanently 
in the mind and memory of the whole human 
race, and have penetrated into and colored the 
literature of every civilized people, it becomes 
now necessary that every well-informed man 
should understand. In a word, the real Cyrus 
is now a far less important personage to man- 
kind than the Cyrus of Herodotus and Xeno- 
phon, and it is, accordingly, the latter story 
which the author proposes to relate in this vol- 
ume. The reader will understand, therefore, 
that the end and aim of the work is not to guar- 
antee an exact and certain account of Cyrus as 
he actually lived and acted, but only to give a 
true and faithful summary of the story which 
for the last two thousand years has been in cir- 
culation respecting him among mankind. 



B.C. 599.] Birth of Cyrus. 37 

The three Asiatic empires. Marriage of Cambyses. 



Chapter II. 

The Birth of Cyrus. 

f INHERE are records coming down to us from 
-*- the very earliest times of three several king- 
doms situated in the heart of Asia — Assyria, 
Media, and Persia, the two latter of which, at 
the period when they first emerge indistinctly 
into view, were more or less connected with and 
dependent upon the former. Astyages was the 
King of Media ; Cambyses was the name of the 
ruling prince or magistrate of Persia. Camby- 
ses married Mandane, the daughter of Astya- 
ges, and Cyrus was their son. In recounting 
the circumstances of his birth, Herodotus re- 
lates, with all seriousness, the following very 
extraordinary story : 

While Mandane was a maiden, living at her 
father's palace and home in Media, Astyages 
awoke one morning terrified by a dream. He 
had dreamed of a great inundation, which over- 
whelmed and destroyed his capital, and sub- 
merged a large part of his kingdom. The great 
rivers of that country were liable to very de- 



38 Cyrus the Great. [B.C. 599. 

Story of Mandane. Dream of Astyages. 

structive floods, and there would have been noth- 
ing extraordinary or alarming in the king's ima- 
gination being haunted, during his sleep, by the 
image of such a calamity, were it not that, in 
this case, the deluge of water which produced 
such disastrous results seemed to be, in some 
mysterious way, connected with his daughter, 
so that the dream appeared to portend some 
great calamity which was to originate in her. 
He thought it perhaps indicated that after her 
marriage she should have a son who would re- 
bel against him and seize the supreme power, 
thus overwhelming his kingdom as the inunda- 
tion had done which he had seen in his dream. 
To guard against this imagined danger, As- 
tyages determined that his daughter should not 
be married in Media, but that she should be 
provided with a husband in some foreign land, 
so as to be taken away from Media altogether. 
He finally selected Cambyses, the king of Per- 
sia, for her husband. Persia was at that time 
a comparatively small and circumscribed do- 
minion, and Cambyses, 'though he seems to 
have been the supreme ruler of it, was very far 
beneath Astyages in rank and power. The dis- 
tance between the two countries was consider- 
able, and the institutions and customs of the 



B.C.599.] Birth of Cyrus. 89 

Astyages' secocd dream. Its interpretation. 

people of Persia were simple and rude, little 
likely to awaken or encourage in the minds of 
their princes any treasonable or ambitious de- 
signs. Astyages thought, therefore, that in 
sending Mandane there to be the wife of the 
king, he had taken effectual precautions to 
guard against the danger portended by his 
dream. 

Mandane was accordingly married, and con- 
ducted by her husband to her new home. About 
a year afterward her father had another dream. 
He dreamed that a vine proceeded from his 
daughter, and, growing rapidly and luxuriantly 
while he was regarding it, extended itself over 
the whole land. Now the vine being a symbol 
of beneficence and plenty, Astyages might have 
considered this vision as an omen of good ; still, 
as it was good which was to be derived in some 
way from his daughter, it naturally awakened 
his fears anew that he was doomed to find a 
rival and competitor for the possession of his 
kingdom in Mandane's son and heir. He call- 
ed together his soothsayers, related his dream to 
them, and asked for their interpretation. They 
decided that it meant that Mandane would have 
a son who would one day become a king. 

Astyages was now seriously alarmed, and he 



40 Cyrus the Great. [B.C.599. 

Birth of Cyrus. Astyages determines to destroy him. 

sent for Mandane to come home, ostensibly be- 
cause he wished her to pay a visit to her father 
and to her native land, but really for the pur- 
pose of having her in his power, that he might 
destroy her child so soon as one should be born. 

Mandane came to Media, and was establish- 
ed by her father in a residence near his palace, 
and such officers and domestics were put in 
charge of her household as Astyages could 
rely upon to do whatever he should command. 
Things being thus arranged, a few months pass- 
ed away, and then Mandane's child was born. 

Immediately on hearing of the event, Asty- 
ages sent for a certain officer of his court, an 
unscrupulous and hardened man, who possess- 
ed, as he supposed, enough of depraved and 
reckless resolution for the commission of any 
crime, and addressed him as follows : 

" I have sent for you, Harpagus, to commit 
to your charge a business of very great import- 
ance. I confide fully in your principles of obe- 
dience and fidelity, and depend upon your do- 
ing, yourself, with your own hands, the work 
that I require. If you fail to do it, or if you 
attempt to evade it by putting it off upon oth- 
ers, you will suffer severely. I wish you to 
take Mandane's child to your own house and 



B.C. 599.] Birth of Cyrus. 41 

Harpagus. The king's command to him. 

put him to death. You may accomplish the 
object in any mode you please, and you may 
arrange the circumstances of the burial of the 
body, or the disposal of it in any other way, as 
you think best ; the essential thing is, that you 
see to it, yourself, that the child is killed." 

Harpagus replied that whatever the king 
might command it was his duty to do, and that, 
as his master had never hitherto had occasion 
to censure his conduct, he should not find him 
wanting now. Harpagus then went to receive 
the infant. The attendants of Mandane had 
been ordered to deliver it to him. Not at all 
suspecting the object for which the child was 
thus taken away, but naturally supposing, on 
the other hand, that it was for the purpose 
of some visit, they arrayed their unconscious 
charge in the most highly-wrought and costly 
of the robes which Mandane, his mother, had 
for many months been interested in preparing 
for him, and then gave him up to the custody 
of Harpagus, expecting, doubtless, that he would 
be very speedily returned to their care. 

Although Harpagus had expressed a ready 
willingness to obey the cruel behest of the king 
at the time of receiving it, he manifested, as 
soon as he received the child, an extreme de- 



42 Cyrus the Great. [B.C. 599, 

Distress of Harpagus. His consultation with his wife. 

gree of anxiety and distress. He immediately 
sent for a herdsman named Mitridates to come 
to him. In the mean time, he took the child 
home to his house, and in a very excited and 
agitated manner related to his wife what had 
passed. He laid the child down in the apart- 
ment, leaving it neglected and alone, while he 
conversed with his wife in a hurried and anx- 
ious manner in respect to the dreadful situation 
in which he found himself placed. She asked 
him what he intended to do. He replied that he 
certainly should not, himself, destroy the child. 
"It is the son of Mandane," said he. "She 
is the king's daughter. If the king should die, 
Mandane would succeed him, and then what 
terrible danger would impend over me if she 
should know me to have been the slayer of her 
son !" Harpagus said, moreover, that he did 
not dare absolutely to disobey the orders of the 
king so far as to save the child's life, and that 
he had sent for a herdsman, whose pastures ex- 
tended to wild and desolate forests and mount- 
ains — the gloomy haunts of wild beasts and 
birds of prey — intending to give the child to 
him, with orders to carry it into those solitudes 
and abandon it there. His name was Mitridates. 
While they were speaking this herdsman 



B.C. 599.] Birth of Cyrus. 43 

The herdsman. He conveys the child to his hut. 

came in. He found Harpagus and his wife 
talking thus together, with countenances ex- 
pressive of anxiety and distress, while the child, 
uneasy under the confinement and inconven- 
iences of its splendid dress, and terrified at the 
strangeness of the scene and the circumstances 
around it, and perhaps, moreover, experiencing 
some dawning and embryo emotions of resent- 
ment at being laid down in neglect, cried aloud 
and incessantly. Harpagus gave the astonish- 
ed herdsman his charge. He, afraid, as Harpa- 
gus had been in the presence of Astyages, to 
evince any hesitation in respect to obeying the 
orders of his superior, whatever they might be, 
took up the child and bore it away. 

He carried it to his hut. It so happened that 
his wife, whose name was Spaco, had at that 
very time a new-born child, but it was dead. 
Her dead son had, in fact, been born during 
the absence of Mitridates. He had been ex- 
tremely unwilling to leave his home at such 
a time, but the summons of Harpagus must, 
he knew, be obeyed. His wife, too, not know- 
ing what could have occasioned so sudden and 
urgent a call, had to bear, all the day, a burden 
of anxiety and solicitude in respect to her hus- 
band, in addition to her disappointment md 



44 Cyrus the Great. [B.C. 599. 

The herdsman's wife. Conversation in the hut. 

grief at the loss of her child. Her anxiety and 
grief were changed for a little time into as- 
tonishment and curiosity at seeing the beauti- 
ful babe, so magnificently dressed, which her 
husband brought to her, and at hearing his ex- 
traordinary story. 

He said that when he first entered the house 
of Harpagus and saw the child lying there, and 
heard the directions which Harpagus gave him 
to carry it into the mountains and leave it to 
die, he supposed that the babe belonged to some 
of the domestics of the household, and that Har- 
pagus wished to have it destroyed in order to 
be relieved of a burden. The richness, how- 
ever, of the infant's dress, and the deep anxiety 
and sorrow which was indicated by the coun- 
tenances and by the conversation of Harpagus 
and his wife, and which seemed altogether too 
earnest to be excited by the concern which they 
would probably feel for any servant's offspring, 
appeared at the time, he said, inconsistent with 
that supposition, and perplexed and bewildered 
him. He said, moreover, that in the end, Har- 
pagus had sent a man with him a part of the 
way when he left the house, and that this man 
had given him a full explanation of the case. 
Th ) child was the son of Mandane, the daugh- 



B.C.099.] Birth of Cyrus. 45 

Entreaties of the herdsman's wife to save the child's life. 

ter of the king, and he was to be destroyed by 
the orders of Astyages himself, for fear that at 
some future period he might attempt to usurp 
the throne. 

They who know any thing of the feelings of 
a mother under the circumstances in which 
Spaco was placed, can imagine with what emo- 
tions she received the little sufferer, now nearly 
exhausted by abstinence, fatigue, and fear, from 
her husband's hands, and the heartfelt pleasure 
with which she drew him to her bosom, to com- 
fort and relieve him. In an hour she was, as 
it were, herself his mother, and she began to 
plead hard with her husband for his life. 

Mitridates said that the child could not pos- 
sibly be saved. Harpagus had been most earn- 
est and positive in his orders, and he was com- 
ing himself to see that they had been executed. 
He would demand, undoubtedly, to see the body 
of the child, to assure himself that it was ac- 
tually dead. Spaco, instead of being convinced 
by her husband's reasoning, only became more 
and more earnest in her desires that the child 
might be saved. She rose from her couch 
and clasped her husband's knees, and begged 
him with the most earnest entreaties and with 
many tears to grant her request. Her husband 



46 Cyrus the Great. [B.C. 599. 

Spaco substitutes her dead child for Cyrus. 

was, however, inexorable. He said that if he 
were to yield, and attempt to save the child 
from its doom, Harpagus would most certain- 
ly know that his orders had been disobeyed, 
and then their own lives would be forfeited, 
and the child itself sacrificed after all, in the 
end. 

The thought then occurred to Spaco that 
her own dead child might be substituted for the 
living one, and be exposed in the mountains in 
its stead. She proposed this plan, and, after 
much anxious doubt and hesitation, the herds- 
man consented to adopt it. They took off the 
splendid robes which adorned the living child, 
and put them on the corpse, each equally un- 
conscious of the change. The little limbs of 
the son of Mandane were then more simply 
clothed in the coarse and scanty covering which 
belonged to the new character which he was 
now to assume, and then the babe was restor- 
ed to its place in Space's bosom. Mitridates 
placed his own dead child, completely disguised 
as it was by the royal robes it wore, in the little 
basket or cradle in which the other had been 
brought, and, accompanied by an attendant, 
whom he was to leave in the forest to keep 
watch over the body, he went away to seek 






X 



y>'^ 




'"t^-^^-^j:.-^^- , 



m^ 



B.C.599.] Birth of Cyrus. 49 

The artifice successful. The body buried. 

some wild and desolate solitude in which to 
leave it exposed. 

Three days passed away, during which the 
attendant whom the herdsman had left in the 
forest watched near the body to prevent its 
being devoured by wild beasts or birds of prey, 
and at the end of that time he brought it home. 
The herdsman then went to Harpagus to in- 
form him that the child was dead, and, in proof 
that it was really so, he said that if Harpagus 
would come to his hut he could see the body* 
Harpagus sent some messenger in whom he 
could confide to make the observation. The 
herdsman exhibited the dead child to him, and 
he was satisfied. He reported the result of 
his mission to Harpagus, and Harpagus then 
ordered the body to be buried. The child of 
Mandane, whom we may call Cyrus, since that 
was the name which he subsequently received, 
was brought up in the herdsman's hut, and 
passed every where for Space's child. 

Harpagus, after receiving the report of his 
messenger, then informed Astyages that his 
orders had been executed, and that the child 
was dead. A trusty messenger, he said, whom 
he had sent for the purpose, had seen the body. 
Although the king had been so earnest to have 
D 



50 Cyrus THE Great. [B.C. 589. 

Remorse of Astyages. Boyhood of Cyras. 

the deed performed, he found that, after all, the 
knowledge that his orders had been obeyed 
gave him very little satisfaction. The fears, 
prompted by his selfishness and ambition, which 
had led him to commit the crime, gave place, 
when it had been perpetrated, to remorse for 
his mmatm-al cruelty. Mandane mourned in- 
cessantly the death of her innocent babe, and 
loaded her father with reproaches for having 
destroyed it, which he found it very hard to 
bear. In the end, he repented bitterly of what 
he had done. 

The secret of the child's preservation re- 
mained concealed for about two years. It was 
then discovered in the following manner : 

Cyrus, like Alexander, Csesar, "William the 
Conqueror, Napoleon, and other commanding 
minds, who obtained a great ascendency over 
masses of men in their maturer years, evinced 
his dawning superiority at a very early period 
of his boyhood. He took the lead of his play- 
mates in their sports, and made them submit 
to his regulations and decisions. Not only did 
the peasants' boys in the little hamlet w^iere 
his reputed father lived thus yield the prece- 
dence to him, but sometimes, when the sons of 
men of rank and station came out from the city 



B.C. 589.] Birth of Cyrus. 


ol 


Cyrus a king among the boys. 


A quarrel. 



to join them in their plays, even then Cyrus 
was the acknowledged head. One day the son 
of an officer of King Astyages's court — his fa- 
ther's name was Artembaris — came out, with 
other boys from the city, to join these village 
boys in their sports. They were playing kin^. 
Cyrus was the king. Herodotus says that the 
other boys chose him as such. It was, however, 
probably such a sort of choice as that by which 
kings and emperors are made among men, a 
yielding more or less voluntary on the part of 
the subjects to the resolute and determined en- 
ergy with which the aspirant places himself 
upon the throne. 

During the progress of the play, a quarrel 
arose between Cyrus and the son of Artemba- 
ris. The latter v/ould not obey, and Cyrus 
beat him. He went home and complained bit- 
terly to his father. The father went to Asty- 
ages to protest against such an indignity offered 
to his son by a peasant boy, and demanded that 
the little tyrant should be punished. Probably 
far the larger portion of intelligent readers of 
history consider the whole story as a romance ; 
but if we look upon it as in any respect true, 
we must conclude that the Median monarchy 
must have been, at that time, in a very rude 



52 Cyrus the Great. [B.C. 589. 

Cyrus summoned into the presence of Astyages. 

and simple condition indeed, to allow of the sub- 
mission of such a question as this to the per- 
sonal adjudication of the reigning king. 

However this may be, Herodotus states that 
Artembaris went to the palace of Astyages, 
taking his son with him, to offer proofs of the 
violence of which the herdsman's son had been 
guilty, by showing the contusions and bruises 
that had been produced by the blows. '' Is this 
the treatment," he asked, indignantly, of the 
king, when he had completed his statement, 
'' that my boy is to receive from the son of one 
of your slaves ?" 

Astyages seemed to be convinced that Ar- 
tembaris had just cause to complain, and he 
sent for Mitridates and his son to come to him 
in the city. When they arrived, Cyrus advanc- 
ed into the presence of the king with that cour- 
ageous and manly bearing which romance writ- 
ers are so fond of ascribing to boys of noble 
birth, whatever may have been the circum- 
stances of their early training. Astyages was 
much struck with his appearance and air. He, 
however, sternly laid to his charge the accusa- 
tion which Artembaris had brought against 
him. Pointing to Artembaris's son, all bruised 
and swollen as he was, he asked, " Is that the 



B.C.589.] Birth of Cyrus. 5S 

Cyrus's defense. Astonishment of Astyages. 

way that you, a mere herdsman's boy, dare to 
treat the son of one of my nobles ?" 

The little prince looked up into his stern 
judge's face with an undaunted expression of 
countenance, which, considering the circum- 
stances of the case, and the smallness of the 
scale on which this embryo heroism was repre- 
sented, was partly ludicrous and partly sublime. 
"My lord," said he, "what I have done I am 
able to justify. I did punish this boy, and I 
had a right to do so. I was king, and he was 
my subject, and he would not obey me. If you 
think that for this I deserve punishment myself, 
here I am ; I am ready to suffer it." 

If Astyages had been struck with the appear- 
ance and manner of Cyrus at the commence- 
ment of the interview, his admiration was awak- 
ened far more strongly now, at hearing such 
words, uttered, too, in so exalted a tone, from 
such a child. He remained a long time silent. 
At last he told Artembaris and his son that 
they might retire. He would take the affair, 
he said, into his own hands, and dispose of it in 
a just and proper manner. Astyages then took 
the herdsman aside, and asked him, in an earn- 
est tone, whose boy that was, and where he 
had obtained him. 



54 Cyrus the Great. [B.C. 589. 

The discovery. Mingled feelings of Astyages. 

Mitridates was terrified. He replied, how- 
ever, that the boy was his own son, and that 
his mother was still living at home, in the hut 
where they all resided. There seems to have 
been something, however, in his appearance and 
manner, while making these assertions, which 
led Astyages not to believe what he said. He 
was convinced that there was some unexplained 
mystery in respect to the origin of the boy, 
which the herdsman was willfully withholding. 
He assumed a displeased and threatening air, 
and ordered in his guards to take Mitridates 
into custody. The terrified herdsman then said 
that he would explain all, and he accordingly 
related honestly the whole story. 

Astyages was greatly rejoiced to find that 
the child was alive. One would suppose it to 
be almost inconsistent with this feeling that he 
should be angry with Harpagus for not having 
destroyed it. It would seem, in fact, that Har- 
pagus was not amenable to serious censure, in 
any view of the subject, for he had taken what 
he had a right to consider very effectual meas- 
ures for carrying the orders of the king into 
faithful execution. But Astyages seems to 
have been one of those inhuman monsters which 
the possession and long-continued exercise of 



B.C. 589.] Birth of Cyrus. 55 

Inhuman monsters. Astyages determines to punish Harpagus. 

despotic power have so often made, who take a 
cahiij quietj and deliberate satisfaction in tor- 
turing to death any wretched victim whom they 
can have any pretext for destroying, especially 
if they can invent some new means of torment 
to give a fresh piquancy to their pleasure. 
These monsters do not act from passion. Men 
are sometimes inclined to palliate great cruel- 
ties and crimes which are perpetrated under the 
influence of sudden anger, or from the terrible 
impulse of those impetuous and uncontrollable 
emotions of the human soul which, when once 
excited, seem to make men insane ; but the 
crimes of a tyrant are not of this kind. They 
are the calm, deliberate, and sometimes care- 
fully economized gratifications of a nature es- 
sentially malign. 

When, therefore, Astyages learned that Har- 
pagus had failed of literally obeying his com- 
mand to destroy, with his own hand, the infant 
which had been given him, although he was 
pleased with the consequences which had re- 
sulted from it, he immediately perceived that 
there was another pleasure besides that he was 
to derive from the transaction, namely, that of 
gratifying his own imperious and ungovernable 
will by taking vengeance on him who had failed? 



56 Cyrus the Great. [B.C. 589. 

Interview between Astyages and Harpagus. Explanation of Harpagus. 

even in so slight a degree, of fulfilling its dic- 
tates. In a word, he was glad that the child 
was saved, but he did not consider that that 
was any reason why he should not have the 
pleasure of punishing the man who saved him. 
Thus, far from being transported by any sud- 
den and violent feeling of resentment to an in- 
considerate act of revenge, Astyages began, 
calmly and coolly, and with a deliberate ma- 
lignity more worthy of a demon than of a man, 
to consider how he could best accomplish the 
purpose he had in view. When, at length, his 
plan was formed, he sent for Harpagus to come 
to him. Harpagus came. The king began 
the conversation by asking Harpagus what 
method he had employed for destroying the 
child of Mandane, which he, the king, had de- 
livered to him some years before. Harpagus 
replied by stating the exact truth. He said 
that, as soon as he had received the infant, he 
began immediately to consider by what means 
he could effect its destruction without involving 
himself in the guilt of murder ; that, finally, 
he had determined upon employing the herds- 
man Mitridates to expose it in the forest till it 
should perish of hunger and cold ; and, in order 
to be sure that the king's behest was fully 



B.C.589.] Birth of Cyrus. 57 

Dissimulation of Astyages. He proposes an entertainment 

obeyed, he charged the herdsman, he said, to 
keep strict watch near the child till it was dead, 
and then to bring home the body. He had then 
sent a confidential messenger from his own 
household to see the body and provide for its 
interment. He solemnly assured the king, in 
conclusion, that this was the real truth, and 
that the child was actually destroyed in the 
manner he had described. 

The king then, with an appearance of great 
satisfaction and pleasure, informed Harpagus 
that the child had not been destroyed after all, 
and he related to him the circumstances of its 
having been exchanged for the dead child of 
Spaco, and brought up in the herdsman's hut. 
He informed him, too, of the singular manner 
in which the fact that the infant had been pre- 
served, and was still alive, had been discovered. 
He told Harpagus, moreover, that he was great- 
ly rejoiced at this discovery. ''After he was 
dead, as I supposed," said he, "I bitterly re- 
pented of having given orders to destroy him. 
I could not bear my daughter's grief, or the re- 
proaches which she incessantly uttered against 
me. But the child is alive, and all is well ; and 
I am going to give a grand entertainment as a 
festival of rejoicing on the occasion." 



58 Cyrus the Great. [B.C. 589. 

Astyages invites Harpagus to a grand entertainment. 

Astyages then requested Harpagus to send 
his son, who was about thirteen years of age, 
to the palace, to be a companion to Cyrus, and, 
inviting him very specially to come to the enter- 
tainment, he dismissed him with many marks 
of attention and honor. Harpagus went home, 
trembling at the thought of the imminent dan- 
ger which he had incurred, and of the narrow 
escape by which he had been saved from it. 
He called his son, directed him to prepare him- 
self to go to the king, and dismissed him with 
many charges in respect to his behavior, both 
toward the king and toward Cyrus. He related 
to his wife the conversation which had taken 
place between himself and Astyages, and she re- 
joiced with him in the apparently happy issue 
of an affair which might well have been ex- 
pected to have been their ruin. 

The sequel of the story is too horrible to be 
told, and yet too essential to a right understand- 
ing of the influences and effects produced on 
human nature by the possession and exercise 
of despotic and irresponsible power to be omit- 
ted. Harpagus came to the festival. It was 
a grand entertainment. Harpagus was placed 
in a conspicuous position at the table. A great 
variety of dishes were brought in and set be- 



B.C. 589.] Birth of Cyrus. 59 

Horrible revenge. Action of Harpagus. 

fore the different guests, and were eaten with- 
out question. Toward the close of the feast, 
Astyages asked Harpagus what he thought of 
his fare. Harpagus, half terrified with some 
mysterious presentiment of danger, expressed 
himself well pleased with it. Astyages then 
told him there was plenty more of the same 
kind, and ordered the attendants to bring the 
basket in. They came accordingly, and un- 
covered a basket before the wretched guest, 
which contained, as he saw when he looked 
into it, the head, and hands, and feet of his 
son. Astyages asked him to help himself to 
whatever part he liked ! 

The most astonishing part of the story is yet 
to be told. It relates to the action of Harpa- 
gus in such an emergency. He looked as com- 
posed and placid as if nothing unusual had oc- 
curred. The king asked him if he knew what 
he had been eating. He said that he did ; and 
that whatever was agreeable to the will of the 
king was always pleasing to him ! ! 

It is hard to say whether despotic power ex- 
erts its worst and most direful influences on 
those who wield it, or on those who have it to 
bear ; on its masters, or on its slaves. 

After the first feelings of pleasure which As- 



60 Cyrus THE Great. [B.C. 589. 

Aetyages becomes uneasy. The magi again consulted. 

tyages experienced in being relieved from the 
sense of guilt which oppressed his mind so long 
as he supposed that his orders for the murder 
of his infant grandchild had been obeyed, his 
former uneasiness lest the child should in fu- 
ture years become his rival and competitor for 
the possession of the Median throne, which had 
been the motive originally instigating him to 
the commission of the crime, returned in some 
measure again, and he began to consider wheth- 
er it was not incumbent on him to take some 
measures to guard against such a result. The 
end of his deliberations was, that he concluded 
to send for the magi, or soothsayers, as he had 
done in the case of his dream, and obtain their 
judgment on the affair in the new aspect which 
it had now assumed. 

When the magi had heard the king's narra- 
tive of the circumstances under which the dis- 
covery of the child's preservation had been 
made, through complaints which had been pre- 
ferred against him on account of the manner in 
which he had exercised the prerogatives of a 
king among his playmates, they decided at once 
that Astyages had no cause for any further ap- 
prehensions in respect to the dreams which had 
disturbed him previous to his grandchild's birth. 



B.C.089.] Birth of Cyrus. 61 

Advice of the magi. Astyages adopts it. 

*' He has been a king," they said, '' and the 
danger is over. It is true that he has been a 
monarch only in play, but that is enough to 
satisfy and fulfill the presages of the vision. 
Occurrences very slight and trifling in them- 
selves are often found to accomplish what seem- 
ed of very serious magnitude and moment, as 
portended. Your grandchild has been a king, 
and he will never reign again. You have, 
therefore, no further cause to fear, and may 
send him to his parents in Persia with perfect 
safety." 

The king determined to adopt this advice. 
He ordered the soothsayers, however, not to re- 
mit their assiduity and vigilance, and if any 
signs or omens should appear to indicate ap- 
proaching danger, he charged them to give him 
immediate warning. This they faithfully prom- 
ised to do. They felt, they said, a personal in- 
terest in doing it; for Cyrus being a Persian 
prince, his accession to the Median throne would 
involve the subjection of the Modes to the Per- 
sian dominion, a result which they wished on 
every account to avoid. So, promising to watch 
vigilantly for every indication of danger, they 
left the presence of the king. The king then 
sent for Cyrus. 



62 Cyrus the Great. [B.C. 589. 

Cyrus sets out for Persia. His parents' joy. 

It seems that Cyrus, though astonished at 
the great and mysterious changes which had 
taken place in his condition, was still ignorant 
of his true history. Astyages now told him 
that he was to go into Persia. " You will re- 
join there," said he, " your true parents, who, 
you will find, are of very different rank in life 
from the herdsman whom you have lived with 
thus far. You will make the journey under 
the charge and escort of persons that I have ap- 
pointed for the purpose. They will explain to 
you, on the way, the mystery in which your 
parentage and birth seems to you at present 
enveloped. You. will find that I was induced 
many years ago, by the influence of an unto- 
ward dream, to treat you injuriously. But all 
has ended well, and you can now go in peace 
to your proper home." 

As soon as the preparations for the journey 
could be made, Cyrus set out, under the care 
of the party appointed to conduct him, and went 
to Persia. His parents were at first dumb with 
astonishment, and were then overwhelmed with 
gladness and joy at seeing their much-loved and 
long-lost babe reappear, as if from the dead, in 
the form of this tall and handsome boy, with 
health, intelligence, and happiness beaming in 



B.C.589.] Birth of Cyrus. 63 

Life at Cambyses's court. Instruction of the young men, 

his countenance. They overwhelmed him with 
caresses, and the heart of Mandane, especially, 
was filled with pride and pleasure. 

As soon as Cyrus became somewhat settled 
in his new home, his parents began to make 
arrangements for giving him as complete an 
education as the means and opportunities of 
those days afforded. 

Xenophon, in his narrative of the early life of 
Cyrus, gives a minute, and, in some respects, 
quite an extraordinary account of the mode of 
life led in Cambyses's court. The sons of all 
the nobles and officers of the court were educa- 
ted together, within the precincts of the royal 
palaces, or, rather, they spent their time togeth- 
er there, occupied in various pursuits and avo- 
cations, which v/ere intended to train them for 
the duties of future life, though there was very 
little of what would be considered, in modern 
times, as education. They were not generally 
taught to read, nor could they, in fact, since 
there were no books, have used that art if they 
had acquired it. The only intellectual instruc- 
tion which they seem to have received was 
what was called learning justice. The boys 
had certain teachers, who explained to them, 
more or less formally, the general principles of 



64 Cyrus the Great. [B.C. 588. 

Cyrus a judge. His decision in that capacity, 

right and wrong, the injunctions and prohibi- 
tions of the laws, and the obligations resulting 
from them, and the rules by which controver- 
sies between man and man, arising in the va- 
rious relations of life, should be settled. The 
boys were also trained to apply these principles 
and rules to the cases which occurred among 
themselves, each acting as judge in turn, to 
discuss and decide the questions that arose from 
time to time, either from real transactions as 
they occurred, or from hypothetical cases in- 
vented to put their powers to the test. To stim- 
ulate the exercise of their powers, they were re- 
warded when they decided right, and punished 
when they decided wrong. Cyrus himself was 
punished on one occasion for a wrong decision, 
under the following circumstances : 

A bigger boy took away the coat of a smaller 
boy than himself, because it was larger than 
his own, and gave him his own smaller coat in- 
stead. The smaller boy complained of the 
wrong, and the case was referred to Cyrus for 
his adjudication. After hearing the case, Cy- 
rus decided that each boy should keep the coat 
that fitted him. The teacher condemned this 
as a very unjust decision. "When you are 
called upon,'^ said he, "to consider a question 



B.C. 588.] Birth OF Cyrus. 65 

Cyrus punished. Manly exercises. 

of what fits best, then you should determine as 
you have done in this case ; but when you are 
appointed to decide whose each coat is, and to 
adjudge it to the proper owner, then you are to 
consider what constitutes right possession, and 
whether he who takes a thing by force from one 
who is weaker than himself, should have it, or 
whether he who made it or purchased it should 
be protected in his property. You have decid- 
ed against law, and in favor of violence and 
wrong." Cyrus's sentence was thus condemn- 
ed, and he was punished for not reasoning more 
soundly. 

The boys at this Persian court were trained 
to many manly exercises. They were taught 
to wrestle and to run. They were instructed 
in the use of such arms as were employed in 
those times, and rendered dexterous in the use 
of them by daily exercises. They vfere taught 
to put their skill in practice, too, in hunting 
excursions, which they took, by turns, with the 
king, in the neighboring forest and mountains. 
On these occasions, they were armed with a 
bow, and a quiver of arrows, a shield, a small 
sword or dagger, which was worn at the side 
in a sort' of scabbard, and two javelins. One 
of these was intended to be thrown, the other 
E 



66 Cyrus the Great. [B.C.588. 

Hunting excursions. Personal appearance of Cyrus. 

to be retained in the hand, for use in close 
combat, in case the wild beast, in his despera- 
tion, should advance to a personal rencounter. 
These hunting expeditions were considered ex- 
tremely important as a part of the system 
of youthful training. They were often long 
and fatiguing. The young men became in- 
ured, by means of them, to toil, and privation, 
and exposure. They had to make long march- 
es, to encounter great dangers, to engage in 
desperate conflicts, and to submit sometimes 
to the inconveniences of hunger and thirst, as 
well as exposure to the extremes of heat and 
cold, and to the violence of storms. All this 
was considered as precisely the right sort of 
discipline to make them good soldiers in their 
future martial campaigns. 

Cyrus was not, himself, at this time, old 
enough to take a very active part in these se- 
verer services, as they belonged to a somewhat 
advanced stage of Persian education, and he 
was yet not quite twelve years old. He was 
a very beautiful boy, tall and graceful in form, 
and his countenance was striking and express- 
ive. He was very frank and open in his dis- 
position and character, speaking honestly, and 
without fear, the sentiments of his heart, in 



B.C.588.] Birth of Cyrus. 67 

Disposition and character of Cyrus. A universal favorite. 

any presence and on all occasions. He was 
extremely kind hearted, and amiable, too, in 
his disposition, averse to saying or doing any 
thing which could give pain to those around 
him. In fact, the openness and cordiality of 
his address and manners, and the unaffected 
ingenuousness and sincerity which character- 
ized his disposition, made him a universal fa- 
vorite. His frankness, his childish simplicity, 
his vivacity, his personal grace and beauty, and 
his generous and self-sacrificing spirit, rendered 
him the object of general admiration through- 
out the court, and filled Mandane's heart with 
maternal gladness and pride. 



68 Cyrus the Great. [B.C. 587. 

Astyages sends for Cyrus. Cyrus goes to Media. 



Chapter III. 

The Visit to Media. 

"HEN Cyrus was about twelve years old, 
if the narrative which Xenophon gives of 
his history is true, he was invited by his grand- 
father Astyages to make a visit to Media. As 
he was about ten years of age, according to He- 
rodotus, when he was restored to his parents, 
he could have been residing only two years in 
Persia when he received this invitation. Dur- 
ing this period, Astyages had received, through 
Mandane and others, very glowing descriptions 
of the intelligence and vivacity of the young 
prmce, and he naturally felt a desire to see him 
once more. In fact, Cyrus's personal attract- 
iveness and beauty, joined to a certain frank 
and noble generosity of spirit which he seems 
to have manifested in his earliest years, made 
him a universal favorite at home, and the re- 
ports of these qualities, and of the various say- 
ings and doings on Cyrus's part, by which his 
disposition and character were revealed, awak- 
ened strongly in the mind of Astyages that kind 



B.C. 587.] Visit to Media. 69 

Cyrus's reception. His astonishment. 

of interest which a grandfather is always very 
prone to feel in a handsome and precocious 
grandchild. 

As Cyrus liad been sent to Persia as soon as 
his true rank had been discovered, he had had 
no opportunities of seeing the splendor of royal 
life in Media, and the manners and habits of 
the Persians were very plain and simple. Cy- 
rus was accordingly very much impressed with 
the magnificence of the scenes to which he was 
introduced when he arrived in Media, and with 
the gayeties and luxuries, the pomp and dis- 
play, and the spectacles and parades in which 
the Median court abounded. Astyages himself 
took great pleasure in witnessing and increas- 
ing his little grandson's admiration for these 
wonders. It is one of the most extraordinary 
and beautiful of the provisions which God has 
made for securing the continuance of human 
happiness to the very end of life, that we can 
renew, through sympathy with cliildren, the 
pleasures which, for ourselves alone, had long 
since, through repetition and satiety, lost their 
charm. The rides, the walks, the flowers gath- 
ered by the road-side, the rambles among peb- 
bles on the beach, the songs, the games, and 
even the little picture-book of childish tales, 



70 Cyrus the Great. [B.C.58;. 

Sympathy with childhood. Pleasures of old age. 

which have utterly and entirely lost their pow- 
er to affect the mind even of middle life, direct- 
ly and alone, regain their magic influence, and 
call up vividly all the old emotions, even to the 
heart of decrepit age, when it seeks these en- 
joyments in companionship and sympathy with 
children or grandchildren beloved. By giving 
to us this capacity for renewing our own sensi- 
tiveness to the impressions of pleasure through 
sympathy with childhood, God has provided a 
true and effectual remedy for the satiety and 
insensibility of age. Let any one who is in the 
decline of years, whose time passes but heavily 
away, and who supposes that nothing can awak- 
en interest in his mind or give him pleasure, 
make the experiment of taking children to a 
ride or to a concert, or to see a menagerie or a 
museum, and he will find that there is a way 
by which he can again enjoy very highly the 
pleasures which he had supposed were for him 
forever exhausted and gone. 

This was the result, at all events, in the case 
of Astyages and Cyrus. The monarch took a 
new pleasure in the luxuries and splendors 
which had long since lost their charm for him, 
in observing their influence and effect upon the 
mind of his little grandson. Cyrus, as we have 



B.C. 587.] Visit to Media. 71 

Character of Cyrus. First interview with his grandfather. 

already said, was very frank and open in his 
disposition, and spoke with the utmost freedom 
of every thing that he saw. He was, of com'se, 
a privileged person, and could always say what 
the feeling of the moment and his own childish 
conceptions prompted, without danger. He had, 
however, according to the account which Xen- 
ophon gives, a great deal of good sense, as well 
as of sprightliness and brilliancy ; so that, while 
his remarks, through their originality and point, 
attracted every one's attention, there was a na- 
tive politeness and sense of propriety which re- 
strained him from saying any thing to give 
pain. Even when he disapproved of and con- 
demned what he saw in the arrangements of his 
grandfather's court or household, he did it in such 
a manner — so ingenuous, good-natured, and un- 
assuming, that it amused all and offended none. 
In fact, on the very first interview which As- 
tyages had with Cyrus, an instance of the boy's 
readiness and tact occurred, which impressed 
his grandfather very much in his favor. The 
Persians, as has been already remarked, were 
accustomed to dress very plainly, while, on the 
other hand, at the Median court the superior 
officers, and especially the king, were always 
very splendidly adorned. Accordingly, when 



72 Cyrus the Great. [B.C. 587. 

Dress of the king. Cyrus's considerate reply. 

Cyrus was introduced into his grandfather's 
presence, he was quite dazzled with the display. 
The king wore a purple robe, very richly adorn- 
ed, with a belt and collars, which were embroid- 
ered highly, and set with precious stones. He 
had bracelets, too, upon his wrists, of the most 
costly character. He wore flowing locks of ar- 
tificial hair, and his face was painted, after the 
Median manner. Cyrus gazed upon this gay 
spectacle for a few moments in silence, and then 
exclaimed, "Why, mother I what a handsome 
man my grandfather is I" 

Such an exclamation, of course, made great 
amusement both for the king himself and for 
the others who were present; and at length, 
Mandane, somewhat indiscreetly, it must be 
confessed, asked Cyrus which, of the two he 
thought the handsomest, his father or his grand- 
father. Cyrus escaped from the danger of de- 
ciding such a formidable question by saying 
that his father was the handsomest man in 
Persia, but his grandfather was the handsom- 
est of all the Medes he had ever seen. Asty- 
ages was even more pleased by this proof of his 
grandson's adroitness and good sense than he 
had been with the compliment which the boy 
had paid to him ; and thenceforward Cyrus be- 



B.C. 587.J Visit to Media. 73 

Habits of Cyrus. Horsemanship among tlie Persians. 

cauie an established favorite, and did and said, 
in his grandfather's presence, almost whatever 
he pleased. 

When the first childish feelings of excitement 
and cmiosity had subsided, Cyrus seemed to at- 
tach very little value to the fine clothes and 
gay trappings with which his grandfather was 
disposed to adorn him, and to all the other 
external marks of parade and display, which 
were generally so much prized among the 
Medes. He was much more inclined to con- 
tinue in his former habits of plain dress and 
frugal means than to imitate Median ostenta- 
tion and luxury. There was one pleasure, how- 
ever, to be found in Media, which in Persia he 
had never enjoyed, that he prized very highly. 
That was the pleasure of learning to ride on 
horseback. The Persians, it seems, either be- 
cause their country was a rough and mountain- 
ous region, or for some other cause, were very 
little accustomed to ride. They had very few 
horses, and there were no bodies of cavalry in 
their armies. The young men, therefore, were 
not trained to the art of horsemanship. Even 
in their hunting excursions they went always 
on foot, and were accustomed to make long 
marches through the forests and among the 



74 Cyrus the Great. [B.C. 587. 

Cyrus learns to ride. His delight. 

mountains in this manner, loaded heavily, too, 
all the time, with the burden of arms and pro- 
visions v^hich they were obliged to carry. It 
was, therefore, a new pleasure to Cyrus to 
mount a horse. Horsemanship was a great art 
among the Medes. Their horses were beautiful 
and fleet, and splendidly caparisoned. Astyages 
provided for Cyrus the best animals which could 
be procured, and the boy was very proud and 
happy in exercising himself in the new accom- 
plishment which he thus had the opportunity 
to acquire. To ride is always a great source 
of pleasure to boys ; but in that period of the 
world, when physical strength was so much 
more important and more highly valued than 
at present, horsemanship was a vastly greater 
source of gratification than it is now. Cyrus 
felt that he had, at a single leap, quadrupled 
his power, and thus risen at once to a far higher 
rank in the scale of being than he had occupied 
before ; for, as soon as he had once learned to 
be at home in the saddle, and to subject the 
spirit and the power of his horse to his own 
will, the courage, the strength, and the speed 
of the animal became, in fact, almost personal 
acquisitions of his own. He felt, accordingly, 
when he was galloping over the plains, or pur- 



B.C. 587.] Visit to Media. 75 

Amusements with the boys. The cup-bearei-, 

suing deer in the park, or running over the race- 
course with his companions, as if it was some 
newly-acquired strength and speed of his own 
that he was exercising, and which, by some 
magic power, was attended by no toilsome ex- 
ertion, and followed by no fatigue. 

The various officers and servants in Astya- 
ges's household, as well as Astyages himself, 
soon began to feel a strong interest in the young 
prince. Each took a pleasure in explaining to 
him what pertained to their several depart- 
ments, and in teaching him whatever he desired 
to learn. The attendant highest in rank in 
such a household was the cup-bearer. He had 
the charge of the tables and the wine, and all 
the general arrangements of the palace seem to 
have been under his direction. The cup-bearer 
in Astyages's court was a Dacian. He was, 
however, less a friend to Cyrus than the rest. 
There was nothing within the range of his offi- 
cial duties that he could teach the boy ; and Cy- 
rus did not like his wine. Besides, when Astya- 
ges was engaged, it was the cup-bearer's duty to 
guard him from interruption, and at such times 
he often had occasion to restrain the young 
prince from the liberty of entering his grand- 
father's apartments as often as he pleased. 



76 Cyrus THE Great. [B.C. 587. 

The entertainment. Cyrus's conversation. 

At one of the entertainments which Astyages 
gave in his palace, Cyrns and Mandane were 
invited ; and Astyages, in order to gratify the 
young prince as highly as possible, set before 
him a great variety of dishes — meats, and sauc- 
es, and delicacies of every kind — all served in 
costly vessels, and with great parade and cere- 
mony. He supposed that Cyrus would have 
been enraptured with the luxury and splendor 
of the entertainment. He did not, however, 
seem much pleased. Astyages asked him the 
reason, and whether the feast which he saw be- 
fore him was not a much finer one than he had 
been accustomed to see in Persia. Cyrus said, 
in reply, that it seemed to him to be very trouble- 
some to have to eat a little of so many separate 
things. In Persia they managed, he thought, 
a great deal better. " And how do you man- 
age in Persia?" asked Astyages. "Why, in 
Persia," replied Cyrus, " we have plain bread 
and meat, and eat it when we are hungry ; so 
we get health and strength, and have very little 
trouble." Astyages laughed at this simplicity, 
and told Cyrus that he might, if he preferred it, 
live on plain bread and meat while he remain- 
ed in Media, and then he would return to Per- 
sia in as good health as he came. 



B.C.587.J Visit to Media. 77 

Cyrus and the Sacian cup-bearer. Cyrus slights him. 

Cyrus was satisfied ; he, however, asked his 
grandfather if he would give him all those 
things which had been set before him, to dis- 
pose of as he thought proper ; and on his grand- 
father's assenting, he began to call the various 
attendants up to the table, and to distribute the 
costly dishes to them, in return, as he said, for 
their various kindnesses to him. " This," said 
he to one, "is for you, because you take pains 
to teach me to ride ; this," to another, '' for 
you, because you gave me a javelin ; this to 
you, because you serve my grandfather well 
and faithfully ; and this to you, because you 
honor my mother." Thus he went on until he 
had distributed all that he had received, though 
he omitted, as it seemed designedly, to give 
any thing to the Sacian cup-bearer. This Sa- 
cian being an officer of high rank, of tall and 
handsome figure, and beautifully dressed, was 
the most conspicuous attendant at the feast, 
and could not, therefore, have been accidentally 
passed by. Astyages accordingly asked Cyrus 
why he had not given any thing to the Sacian 
— the servant whom, as he said, he liked better 
than all the others. 

'•And what is the reason," asked Cyrus, in 
reply, " that this Sacian is such a favorite with 



78 Cyrus the Great. [B.C. 587. 

Accomplishments of the cup-bearer. Cyrus mimics him. 

" Have you not observed," replied Astyages, 
"how gracefully and elegantly he pours out 
the v^ine for me, and then hands me the cup ?" 

The Sacian was, in fact, uncommonly ac- 
complished in respect to the personal grace and 
dexterity for which cup-bearers in those days 
were most highly valued, and which constitute, 
in fact, so essential a part of the qualifications 
of a master of ceremonies at a royal court in 
every age. Cyrus, however, instead of yielding 
to this argument, said, in reply, that he could 
come into the room and pour out the wine as 
well as the Sacian could do it, and he asked his 
grandfather to allow him to try. Astyages con- 
sented. Cyrus then took the goblet of wine, 
and went out. In a moment he came in again, 
stepping grandly, as he entered, in mimicry of 
the Sacian, and with a countenance of assumed 
gravity and self-importance, which imitated so 
well the air and manner of the cup-bearer as 
greatly to amuse the whole company assem- 
bled. Cyrus advanced thus toward the king, 
and presented him with the cup, imitating, with 
the grace and dexterity natural to childhood, 
all the ceremonies which he had seen the cup- 
bearer himself perform, except that of tasting 
the wine. The king and Mandane laughed 



B.C. 587.] Visit to Media. 79 

Cyrus declines to taste the wine. Duties of a cup-bearer. 

heartily. Cyrus then, throwing off his assum- 
ed character, jumped up into his grandfather's 
lap and kissed him, and turning to the cup- 
bearer, he said, '' Now, Sacian, you are ruined. 
I shall get my grandfather to appoint me in 
your place. I can hand the wine as well as 
you, and without tasting it myself at all." 

" But why did you not taste it?" asked As- 
tyages ; ^'you should have performed that part 
of the duty as well as the rest." 

It was, in fact, a very essential part of the 
duty of a cup-bearer to taste the wine that he 
offered before presenting it to the king. He 
did this, however, not by putting the cup to his 
lips, but by pouring out a little of it into the 
palm of his hand. This custom was adopted 
by these ancient despots to guard against the 
danger of being poisoned ; for such a danger 
would of course be very much diminished by 
requiring the officer who had the custody of 
the wine, and without whose knowledge no for- 
eign substance could well be introduced into it, 
always to drink a portion of it himself imme- 
diately before tendering it to the king. 

To Astyages's question why he had not tasted 
the wine, Cyrus replied that he was afraid it 
was poisoned. " What led you to imagine that 



80 


Cyrus 


THE 


G 


RE AT. 


[B. 


C.587. 


Cyrus's reason 


, for not tasting the win-e. 




His description of a feast. 



it was poisoned ?" asked his grandfather. "Be- 
cause," said Cyrus, "it was poisoned the other 
day, when you made a feast for your friends, 
on your birth-day. I knew by the effects. It 
made you all crazy. The things that you do 
not allow us boys to do, you did yourselves, 
for you were very rude and noisy; you all 
bawled together, so that nobody could hear or 
understand what any other person said. Pres- 
ently you went to singing in a very ridiculous 
manner,, and when a singer ended his song, you 
applauded him, and declared that he had sung 
admirably, though nobody had paid attention. 
You went to telling stories, too, each one of 
his own accord, without succeeding in making 
any body listen to him. Finally, you got up 
and began to dance, but it was out of all rule 
and measure ; you could not even stand erect 
and steadily. Then, you all seemed to forget 
who and what you were. The guests paid no 
regard to you as their king, but treated you in 
a very familiar and disrespectful manner, and 
you treated them in the same way ; so I thought 
that the wine that produced these effects must 
have been poisoned." 

Of course, Cyrus did not seriously mean that 
he thought the wine had been actually poison- 



B.C. 587.] Visit to Media. 81 

Cyrus's dislike of the cup-bearer. His reason for it 

ed. He was old enough to understand its na- 
ture and effects. He undoubtedly intended his 
reply as a playful satire upon the intemperate 
excesses of his grandfather's court. 

" But have not you ever seen such things be- 
fore ?" asked Astyages. ^' Does not your father 
ever drink wine until it makes him merry ?" 

"No," replied Cyrus, "indeed he does not. 
He drinks only when he is thirsty, and then 
only enough for his thirst, and so he is not 
harmed." He then added, in a contemptuous 
tone, " He has no Sacian cup-bearer, you may 
depend, about ^zm." 

"What is the reason, my son," here asked 
Mandane, " why you dislike this Sacian so 
much ?" 

"Why, every time that I want to come and 
see my grandfather," replied Cyrus, "this teaz- 
ing man always stops me, and will not let me 
come in. I wish, grandfather, you would let 
me have the rule over him just for three days." 

"Why, what would you do to him ?" asked 
Astyages. 

"I would treat him as he treats me now," 

replied Cyrus. "I would stand at the door, as 

he does when I want to come in, and when he 

was coming for his dinner, I would stop him 

F 



82 Cyrus the Great. [B.C. 587. 

Amusement of the guests. Cyrus becomes a greater favorite than ever. 

and say, ' You can not come in now ; lie is busy 
with some men.' " 

In saying this, Cyrus imitated, in a very lu- 
dicrous manner, the gravity and dignity of the 
Sacian's air and manner. 

''Then," he continued, "when he came to 
supper, I would say, ' He is bathing now ; you 
must come some other time ;' or else, ' He is 
going to sleep, and you will disturb him.' So 
I would torment him all the time, as he now 
torments me, in keeping me out when I want 
to come and see you." 

Such conversation as this, half playful, half 
earnest, of course amused Astyages and Man- 
dane very much, as well as all the other listen- 
ers. There is a certain charm in the simplicity 
and confiding frankness of childhood, when it is 
honest and sincere, which in Cyrus's case was 
heightened by his personal grace and beauty. 
He became, in fact, more and more a favorite 
the longer he remained. At length, the indul- 
gence and the attentions which he received be- 
gan to produce, in some degree, their usual in- 
jurious effects. Cyrus became too talkative, 
and sometimes he appeared a little vain. Still, 
there was so much true kindness of heart, such 
consideration for the feelings of others, and so 



B.C. 586.] Visit to Media. «3 

Mandane proposes to return to Persia. 

respectful a regard for his grandfather, his moth- 
er, and his uncle,* that his faults were over- 
looked, and he was the life and soul of the com- 
pany in all the social gatherings which took 
place in the palaces of the king. 

At length the time arrived for Mandane to 
return to Persia. Astyages proposed that she 
should leave Cyrus in Media, to be educated 
there under his grandfather's charge. Mandane 
replied that she was willing to gratify her fa- 
ther in every thing, but she thought it would 
be very hard to leave Cyrus behind, unless he 
was willing, of his own accord, to stay. Asty- 
ages then proposed the subject to Cyrus him- 
self. " If you will stay," said he, " the Sacian 
shall no longer have power to keep you from 
coming in to see me ; you shall come whenever 
you choose. Then, besides, you shall have the 
use of all my horses, and of as many more as 
you please, and when you go home at last you 
shall take as many as you wish with you. 

* The uncle here referred to was Mandane's brother. His 
name was Cyaxares. He was at this time a royal prince, the 
heir apparent to the throne. He figures very conspicuously 
in the subsequent portions of Xenophon's history as Astya- 
ges's successor on the throne. Herodotus does not mention 
him at all, but makes Cyrus himself the direct successor of 
Astyages. 



84 Cyrus the Great. [B.C.584. 

Cyrus consents to remain. Fears of Mandane. 

Then yon may have all the animals in the park 
to hunt. You can pursue them on horseback, 
and shoot them with bows and arrows, or kill 
them with javelins, as men do with wild beasts 
in the woods. I will provide boys of your own 
age to play with you, and to ride and hunt with 
you, and will have all sorts of arms made of 
suitable size for you to use ; and if there is 
any thing else that you should want at any 
time, you will only have to ask me for it, and 
I will immediately provide it." 

The pleasure of riding and of hunting in the 
park was very captivating to Cyrus's mind, and 
he consented to stay. He represented to his 
mother that it would be of great advantage to 
him, on his final return to Persia, to be a skill- 
ful and powerful horseman, as that would at 
once give him the superiority over all the Per- 
sian youths, for they were very little accustom- 
ed to ride. His mother had some fears lest, by 
too long a residence in the Median court, her 
son should acquire the luxurious habits, and 
proud and haughty manners, which would be 
constantly before him in his grandfather's ex- 
ample ; but Cyrus said that his grandfather, 
being imperious himself, required all around 
him to be submissive, and that Mandane need 



B.C. 584.] Visit to Media. 85 

Departure of Mandane. Rapid progress of Cyrus. 

not fear but that he would return at last as du- 
tiful and docile as ever. It was decided, there- 
fore, that Cyrus should stay, while his mother, 
bidding her child and her father farewell, went 
back to Persia. 

After his mother was gone, Cyrus endear- 
ed himself very strongly to all persons at his 
grandfather's court by the nobleness and gener- 
osity of character which he evinced, more and 
more, as his mind was gradually developed. 
He applied himself with great diligence to ac- 
quiring the various accomplishments and arts 
then most highly prized, such as leaping, vault- 
ing, racing, riding, throwing the javelin, and 
drawing the bow. In the friendly contests 
which took place among the boys, to test their 
comparative excellence in these exercises, Cy- 
rus would challenge those whom he knew to be 
superior to himself, and allow them to enjoy 
the pleasure of victory, while he was satisfied, 
himself, with the superior stimulus to exertion 
which, he derived from coming thus into com- 
parison with attainments higher than his own. 
He pressed forward boldly and ardently, under- 
taking every thing which promised to be, by 
any possibility, within his power ; and, far from 
being disconcerted and discouraged at his mis- 



86 Cyrus the Great. [B.C. 584. 

Hunting in the park. Game becomes scarce. 

takes and failures, he always joined merrily in 
the laugh which they occasioned, and renewed 
his attempts with as much ardor and alac- 
rity as before. Thus he made great and rapid 
progress, and learned first to equal and then 
to surpass one after another of his compan- 
ions, and all without exciting any jealousy or 
envy. 

It was a great amusement both to him and 
to the other boys, his playmates, to hunt the 
animals in the park, especially the deer. The 
park was a somewhat extensive domain, but 
the animals were soon very much diminished 
by the slaughter which the boys made among 
them. Astyages endeavored to supply their 
places by procuring more. At length, how- 
ever, all the sources of supply that were con- 
veniently at hand were exhausted ; and Cyrus, 
then finding that his grandfather was put to no 
little trouble to obtain tame animals for his 
park, proposed, one day, that he should be al- 
lowed to go out into the forests, to hunt the 
wild beasts with the men. "There are ani- 
mals enough there, grandfather," said Cyrus, 
"and I shall consider them all just as if you 
had procured them expressly for me." 

In fact, by this time Cyrus had grown up to be 



B.C. 584.] Visit to Media. 87 

Development of Cyrus's powers, both of body and mind. 

a tall and handsome young man, with strength 
and vigor sufficient, under favorable circum- 
stances, to endure the fatigues and exposures 
of real hunting. As his person had become de- 
veloped, his mind and manners, too, had under- 
gone a change. The gayety, the thoughtful- 
ness, the self-confidence, and talkative vivacity 
of his childhood had disappeared, and he was 
fast becoming reserved, sedate, deliberate, and 
cautious. He no longer entertained his grand- 
father's company by his mimicry, his repartees, 
and his childish wit. He was silent; he ob- 
served, he listened, he shrank from publicity, 
and spoke, when he spoke at all, in subdued 
and gentle tones. Instead of crowding forward 
eagerly into his grandfather's presence on all 
occasions, seasonable and unseasonable, as he 
had done before, he now became, of his own ac- 
cord, very much afraid of occasioning trouble 
or interruption. He did not any longer need 
a Sacian to restrain him, but became, as Xen- 
ophon expresses it, a Sacian to himself, taking 
great care not to go into his grandfather's apart- 
ments without previously ascertaining that the 
king was disengaged ; so that he and the Sa- 
cian now became very great friends. 

This being the state of the case, Astyages 



88 Cyrus the Great. [B.C.584. 

Hunting wild beasts. Cyrus's conversation with his attendants. 

consented that Cyrus should go out with his son 
Cyaxares into the forests to hunt at the next 
opportunity. The party set out, when the time 
arrived, on horseback, the hearts of Cyrus and 
his companions bounding, when they mounted 
their steeds, with feelings of elation and pride. 
There were certain attendants and guards ap- 
pointed to keep near to Cyrus, and to help him 
in the rough and rocky parts of the country, 
and to protect him from the dangers to which, 
if left alone, he would doubtless have been ex- 
posed. Cyrus talked with these attendants, as 
they rode along, of the mode of hunting, of the 
difficulties of hunting, the characters and the 
habits of the various wild beasts, and of the 
dangers to be shunned. His attendants told 
him that the dangerous beasts were bears, lions, 
tigers, boars, and leopards ; that such animals 
as these often attacked and killed men, and that 
he must avoid them ; but that stags, wild goats, 
wild sheep, and wild asses were harmless, and 
that he could hunt such animals as they as 
much as he pleased. They told him, mojeover, 
that steep, rocky, and broken ground was more 
dangerous to the huntsman than any beasts, 
however ferocious ; for riders, off their guard, 
driving impetuously over such ways, were often 



B.C. 584.] Visit to Media. 91 

Pursuit of a stag. Cyrus's danger. 

thrown from their horses, or fell with them over 
precipices or into chasms, and were killed. 

Cyrus listened very attentively to these in- 
structions, with every disposition to give heed 
to them ; but when he came to the trial, he 
found that the ardor and impetuosity of the 
chase drove all considerations of prudence wholly 
from his mind. When the men got into the 
forest, those that were with Cyrus roused a 
stag, and all set off eagerly in pursuit, Cyrus 
at the head. Away went the stag over rough 
and dangerous ground. The rest of the party 
turned aside, or followed cautiously, while Cy- 
rus urged his horse forward in the wildest ex- 
citement, thinking of nothing, and seeing noth- 
ing but the stag bounding before him. The 
horse came to a chasm which he was obhged 
to leap. But the distance was too great ; he 
came down upon his knees, threw Cyrus vio- 
lently forward almost over his head, and then, 
with a bound and a scramble, recovered his feet 
and went on. Cyrus clung tenaciously to the 
horse's mane, and at length succeeded in get- 
ting back to the saddle, though, for a moment, 
his life was in the most imminent danger. His 
attendants were extremely terrified, though he 
himself seemed to experience no feeling but the 



92 Cyrus the Great. [B.C. 584. 

Cyrus's recklessness. He is reproved by his companions. 

pleasurable excitement of the chase ; for, as 
soon as the obstacle was cleared, he pressed on 
with new impetuosity after the stag, overtook 
him, and killed him with his javelin. Then, 
alighting from his horse, he stood by the side of 
his victim, to wait the coming up of the party, 
his countenance beaming with an expression 
of triumph and delight. 

His attendants, however, on their arrival, 
instead of applauding his exploit, or seeming to 
share his pleasure, sharply reproved him for his 
recklessness and daring. He had entirely disre- 
garded their instructions, and they threatened 
to report him to his grandfather. Cyrus looked 
perplexed and uneasy. The excitement and 
the pleasure of victory and success were strug- 
gling in his mind against his dread of his grand- 
father's displeasure. Just at this instant he 
heard a new halloo. Another party in the 
neighborhood had roused fresh game. All Cy- 
rus's returning sense of duty was blown at once 
to the winds. He sprang to his horse with a 
shout of wild enthusiasm, and rode off toward 
the scene of action. The game which had been 
started, a furious wild boar, just then issued 
from a thicket directly before him. Cyrus, in- 
stead of shunning the danger, as he ought to 



B.C. 584] 


V 


ISIT 


TO 


M 


EDIA. 


93 


Cyrus kiUs a wild boar. 








He is again reproved. 



have done, in obedience to the orders of those 
to whom his grandfather had intrusted him, 
dashed on to meet the boar at full speed, and 
aimed so true a thrust with his javelin against 
the beast as to transfix him in the forehead. 
The boar fell, and lay upon the ground in dying 
struggles, while Cyrus's heart was filled with 
joy and triumph even greater than before. 

When Cyaxares came up, he reproved Cyrus 
anew for running such risks. Cyrus received 
the reproaches meekly, and then asked Cyaxa- 
res to give him the two animals that he had 
killed ; he wanted to carry them home to his 
grandfather. 

" By no means," said Cyaxares ; "your grand- 
father would be very much displeased to know 
what you had done. He would not only con- 
demn you for acting thus, but he would reprove 
us too, severely, for allowing you to do so." 

" Let him punish me," said Cyrus, "if he 
wishes, after I have shown him the stag and 
the boar, and you may punish me too, if you 
think best ; but do let me show them to him." 

Cyaxares consented, and Cyrus made ar- 
rangements to have the bodies of the beasts 
and the bloody javelins carried home. Cyrus 
then presented the carcasses to his grandfather, 



94 Cyrus the Great. [B.C. 584. 

Cyrus carries his game home. Distributes it among his companions. 

saying that it was sor:ie game which he had 
taken for him. The javelins he did not exhibit 
directly, but he laid them down in a place 
where his grandfather would see them. Asty- 
ages thanked him for his presents, but he said 
he had no such need of presents of game as to 
wish his grandson to expose himself to such im- 
minent dangers to take it. 

"Well, grandfather," said Cyrus, "if you do 
not want the meat, give it to me, and I will 
divide it among my friends." Astyages agreed 
to this, and Cyrus divided his booty among his 
companions, the boys, who had before hunted 
with him in the park. They, of course, took 
their several portions home, each one carrying 
with his share of the gift a glowing account of 
the valor and prowess of the giver. It was not 
generosity which led Cyrus thus to give away 
the fruits of his toil, but a desire to widen and 
extend his fame. 

When Cyrus was about fifteen or sixteen 
years old, his uncle Cyaxares was married, 
and, in celebrating his nuptials, he formed a 
great hunting party, to go to the frontiers be- 
tween Media and Assyria to hunt there, where 
it was said that game of all kinds was very 
plentiful, as it usually was, in fact, in those 



B.C. 584.] Visit to Media. 95 

Another hunting party. A plundering party. 

days, in the neighborhood of disturbed and un- 
settled frontiers. The very causes which made 
such a region as this a safe and frequented 
haunt for wild beasts, made it unsafe for men, 
and Cyaxares did not consider it prudent to 
venture on his excursion without a considerable 
force to attend him. His hunting party formed, 
therefore, quite a little army. They set out 
from home with great pomp and ceremony, and 
proceeded to the frontiers in regular organiza- 
tion and order, like a body of troops on a march. 
There was a squadron of horsemen, who were to 
hunt the beasts in the open parts of the forest, 
and a considerable detachment of light- armed 
footmen also, who were to rouse the game, and 
drive them out of their lurking places in the 
glens and thickets. Cyrus accompanied this 
expedition. 

When Cyaxares reached the frontiers, he 
concluded, instead of contenting himself and his 
party with hunting wild beasts, to make an 
incursion for plunder into the territories of the 
Medes, that being, as Xenophon expresses it, a 
more noble enterprise than the other. The no- 
bleness, it seems, consisted in the greater immi- 
nence of the danger, in having to contend with 
armed men instead of ferocious brutes, and in 



96 Cyrus the Great. [B.C. 584. 

Cyrus departs for Media. Parting presents. 

the higher value of the prizes which they would 
obtain in case of success. The idea of there be- 
ing any injustice or wrong in this wanton and 
unprovoked aggression upon the territories of a 
neighboring nation seems not to have entered 
the mind either of the royal robber himself or 
of his historian. 

Cyrus distinguished himself very conspicu- 
ously in this expedition, as he had done in the 
hunting excursion before; and when, at length, 
this nuptial party returned home, loaded with 
booty, the tidings of Cyrus's exploits went to 
Persia. Cambyses thought that if his son was 
beginning to take part, as a soldier, in military 
campaigns, it was time for him to be recalled. 
He accordingly sent for him, and Cyrus began 
to make preparations for his return. 

The day of his departure was a day of great 
sadness and sorrow among all his companions 
in Media, and, in fact, among all the members 
of his grandfather's household. They accom- 
panied him for some distance on his way, and 
took leave of him, at last, with much regret 
and many tears. Cyrus distributed among 
them, as they left him, the various articles of 
value which he possessed, such as his arms, 
and ornaments of various kinds, and costly ar- 



B.C. 584] Visit to Media. 97 

The presents returned. Cyrus sends them back again. 

tides of dress. He gave his Median robe, at 
last, to a certain youth whom he said he loved 
the best of all. The name of this special fa- 
vorite was Araspes. As these his friends part- 
ed from him, Cyrus took his leave of them, one 
by one, as they returned, with many proofs of 
his affection for them, and with a very sad and 
heavy heart. 

The boys and young men who had received 
these presents took them home, but they were 
so valuable, that they or their parents, suppos- 
ing that they were given under a momentary 
impulse of feeling, and that they ought to be 
returned, sent them all to Astyages. Astya- 
ges sent them to Persia, to be restored to Cy- 
rus. Cyrus sent them all back again to his 
grandfather, with a request that he would dis- 
tribute them again to those to whom Cyrus 
had originally given tliem, "which," said he, 
''grandfather, you must do, if you wish me 
ever to come to Media again with pleasure and 
not with shame." 

Such is the story which Xenophon gives of 
Cyrus's visit to Media, and in its romantic and 
incredible details it is a specimen of the whole 
narrative which this author has given of his he- 
ro's life. It is not, at the present day. supposed 
G 



98 Cyrus the Great. [B.C. 584. 

Character of Xenophon's narrative. Its trustworthiness. 

that these, and the many similar stories with 
which Xenophon's books are filled, are true histo- 
ry. It is not even thought that Xenophon real- 
ly intended to offer his narrative as history, but 
rather as an historical romance — a fiction found- 
ed on fact, written to amuse the warriors of his 
times, and to serve as a vehicle for inculcating 
such principles of philosophy, of morals, and of 
military science as seemed to him worthy of 
the attention of his countrymen. The story 
has no air of reality about it from beginning to 
end, but only a sort of poetical fitness of one 
part to another, much more like the contrived 
coincidences of a romance writer than like the 
real events and transactions of actual life. A 
very large portion of the work consists of long 
discourses on military, moral, and often meta- 
physical philosophy, made by generals in coun- 
cil, or commanders in conversation with each 
other when going into battle. The occurrences 
and incidents out of which these conversations 
arise always take place just as they are wanted, 
and arrange themselves in a manner to produce 
the highest dramatic effect ; like the stag, the 
broken ground, and the wild boar in Cyrus's 
hunting, which came, one after another, to fur- 
nish the hero with poetical occasions for display- 



B.C. 584] Visit to Media. 99 

Character of Cyrus as given by Xenophon. 

ing his juvenile bravery, and to produce the 
most picturesque and poetical grouping of in- 
cidents and events. Xenophon too, like other 
"Writers of romances, makes his hero a model of 
military virtue and magnanimity, according to 
the ideas of the times. He displays superhu- 
man sagacity in circumventing his foes, he per- 
forms prodigies of valor, he forms the most sen- 
timental attachments, and receives with a ro- 
mantic confidence the adhesions of men who 
come over to his side from the enemy, and who, 
being traitors to old friends, would seem to be 
only worthy of suspicion and distrust in being 
received by new ones. Every thing, however, 
results well; all vdiom he confides in prove 
worthy ; all whom he distrusts prove base. 
All his friends are generous and noble, and all 
his enemies treacherous and cruel. Every 
prediction which he makes is verified, and all 
his enterprises succeed ; or if, in any respect, 
there occurs a partial failure, the incident is 
always of such a character as to heighten the 
impression which is made by the final and tri- 
umphant success. 

Such being the character of Xenophon's tale, 
or rather drama, we shall content ourselves, 
after giving this specimen of it, with adding. 



100 Cyrus the Great. [B.C. 584. 

Herodotus more trustworthy than Xenophon. 

in some subsequent chapters, a few other scenes 
and incidents drawn from his narrative. In the 
mean time, in relating the great leading events 
of Cyrus's life, we shall take Herodotus for our 
guide, by following his more sober, and, prob- 
ably, more trustworthy record. 



B.C. 718.] Crcesus. 101 

The wealth of Croesus. The MermnadEB. 



Chapter IV. 

C R CE s u s. 

rilHE scene of our narrative must now be 
-^ changed, for a time, from Persia and Me- 
dia, in the East, to Asia Minor, in the West, 
where the great Crcesus, originally King of 
Lydia, was at this time gradually extending 
his empire along the shores of the ^gean Sea. 
The name of Crcesus is associated in the minds 
of men with the idea of boundless wealth, the 
phrase '' as rich as Croesus" having been a com- 
mon proverb in all the modern languages of 
Europe for many centuries. It was to this 
Croesus, king of Lydia, whose story we are 
about to relate, that the proverb alludes. 

The country of Lydia, over which this fa- 
mous sovereign originally ruled, was in the 
western part of Asia Minor, bordering on the 
.^gean Sea. Croesus himself belonged to a 
dynasty, or race of kings, called the Mermna- 
dse. The founder of this line was Gyges, who 
displaced the dynasty which preceded him and 
established his own by a revolution effected in 



102 Cyrus the Great. [B.C. 718. 

Origin of the Mermnadean dynasty. Candaules and Gyges. 

a very remarkable manner. The circumstances 
were as follows : 

The name of the last monarch of the old dy- 
nasty — the one, namely, whom Gyges displac- 
ed — was Candaules. Gyges was a household 
servant in Candaules's family — a sort of slave, 
in fact, and yet, as such slaves often were in 
those rude days, a personal favorite and boon 
companion of his master. Candaules was a dis- 
solute and unprincipled tyrant. He had, how- 
ever, a very beautiful and modest wife, whose 
name was Nyssia. Candaules was very proud 
of the beauty of his queen, and was always ex- 
tolling it, though, as the event proved, he could 
not have felt for her any true and honest affec- 
tion. In some of his revels with Gyges, when 
he was boasting of Nyssia's charms, he said 
that the beauty of her form and figure, when 
unrobed, was even more exquisite than that of 
her features ; and, finally, the monster, growing 
more and more excited, and having rendered 
himself still more of a brute than he was by 
nature by the influence of wine, declared that 
Gyges should see for himself. He would con- 
ceal him, he said, in the queen's bed-chamber, 
while she was undressing for the night. Gy- 
ges remonstrated very earnestly against this 



B.C. 718.] Cr(esus. 103 

Infamous proposal of Candaules. Remonstrance of Gyges, 

proposal. It would be doing the innocent 
queen, he said, a great wrong. He assured the 
king, too, that he believed fully all that he said 
about Nyssia's beauty, without applying such 
a test, and he begged him not to insist upon a 
proposal with which it would be criminal to 
comply. 

The king, however, did insist upon it, and 
Gyges was compelled to yield. "Whatever is 
offered as a favor by a half-intoxicated despot 
to an humble inferior, it would be death to re- 
fuse. Gryges allowed himself to be placed be- 
hind a half-opened door of the king's apartment, 
when the king retired to it for the night. There 
he was to remain while the queen began to un- 
robe herself for retiring, with a strict injunction 
to withdraw at a certain time which the king 
designated, and with the utmost caution, so as 
to prevent being observed by the queen. Gy- 
ges did as he was ordered. The beautiful 
queen laid aside her garments and made her 
toilet for the night with all the quiet compo- 
sure and confidence which a woman might be 
expected to feel while in so sacred and inviola- 
ble a sanctuary, and in the presence and under 
the guardianship of her husband. Just as she 
was about to retire to rest, some movement 



104 Cyrus the Great. [B.C. 718. 

Nyssia's suppressed indignation. She sends for Gyges. 

alarmed her. It was Gyges going away. She 
saw him. She instantly understood the case. 
She was overwhelmed with indignation and 
shame. She, however, suppressed and conceal- 
ed her emotions ; she spoke to Candaules in her 
usual tone of voice, and he, on his part, secret- 
ly rejoiced in the adroit and successful manner 
in which his little contrivance had been carried 
into execution. 

The next morning Nyssia sent, by some of 
her confidential messengers, for Gyges to come 
to her. He came, with some forebodings, per- 
haps, but without any direct reason for believ- 
ing that what he had done had been discovered. 
Nyssia, however, informed him that she knew 
all, and that either he or her husband must die. 
Gyges earnestly remonstrated against this de- 
cision, and supplicated forgiveness. He ex- 
plained the circumstances under which the act 
had been performed, which seemed, at least so 
far as he was concerned, to palliate the deed. 
The queen was, however, fixed and decided. 
It was wholly inconsistent with her ideas of 
womanly delicacy that there should be two liv- 
ing men who had both been admitted to her 
bedchamber. " The king," she said, '^ by what 
he has done, has forfeited his claims to me and 



B.C. 718.] Crcesus. 105 

Candaules is assassinated. Gyges succeeds. 

resigned me to you. If you will kill him, seize 
his kingdom, and make jne. your wife, all shall 
be well ; otherwise you must prepare to die." 

From this hard^alternative, Gyges chose to 
assassinate the king, and to make the lovely 
object before him his own. The excitement 
of indignation and resentment which glowed 
upon her cheek, and with which her bosom was 
heaving, made her more beautiful than ever. 
^'How shall our purpose be accomplished?" 
asked Gyges. ^'The deed," she replied, "shall 
be perpetrated in the very place which was the 
scene of the dishonor done to me. I will admit 
you into our bedchamber in my turn, and you 
shall kill Candaules in his bed." 

When night came, Nyssia stationed Gyges 
again behind the same door where the king had 
placed him. He had a dagger in his hand. He 
waited there till Candaules was asleep. Then, 
at a signal given him by the queen, he entered, 
and stabbed the husband in his bed. He mar- 
ried Nyssia, and possessed himself of the king- 
dom. After this, he and his successors reigned 
for many years over the kingdom of Lydia, con- 
stituting the dynasty of the Mermnadse, from 
which, in process of time. King Croesus de- 
scended. 



106 Cyrus the Great. [B.C.565. 

The Lydian power extended. The wars of Alyattes. 

The successive sovereigns of this dynasty 
gradually extended the Lydian power over the 
countries around them. The name of Croesus's 
father, v^ho was the monarch that immediately 
preceded him, was Alyattes. Alyattes waged 
war toward the southward, into the territories 
of the city of Miletus. He made annual in- 
cursions into the country of the Milesians for 
plunder, always taking care, however, while he 
seized all the movable property that he could 
find, to leave the villages and towns, and all the 
hamlets of the laborers without injury. The 
reason for this was, that he did not wish to 
drive away the population, but to encourage 
them to remain and cultivate their lands, so 
that there might be new flocks and herds, and 
new stores of corn, and fruit, and wine, for him 
to plunder from in succeeding years. At last, 
on one of these marauding excursions, some 
fires which were accidentally set in a field 
spread into a neighboring town, and destroyed, 
among other buildings, a temple consecrated to 
Minerva. After this, Alyattes found himself 
quite unsuccessful in all his expeditions and 
campaigns. He sent to a famous oracle to ask 
the reason. 

^'You can expect no more success," replied 



B.C. 565.] Cr(esus. 107 

Destruction of Minerva's temple. Stratagem of Thrasybulus. 

the oracle, "until you rebuild the temple that 
you have destroyed." 

But how could he rebuild the temple ? The 
site was in the enemy's country. His men 
could not build an edifice and defend themselves, 
at the same time, from the attacks of their foes. 
He concluded to demand a truce of the Mile- 
sians until the reconstruction should be com- 
pleted, and he sent embassadors to Miletus, ac- 
cordingly, to make the proposal. 

The proposition for a truce resulted in a per- 
manent peace, by means of a very singular 
stratagem which Thrasybulus, the king of Mi- 
letus, practiced upon Alyattes. It seems that 
Alyattes supposed that Thrasybulus had been 
reduced to great distress by the loss and de- 
struction of provisions and stores in various 
parts of the country, and that he would soon 
be forced to yield up his kingdom. This was, 
in fact, the case ; but Thrasybulus determined 
to disguise his real condition, and to destroy, 
by an artifice, all the hopes which Alyattes had 
formed from the supposed scarcity in the city. 
"When the herald whom Alyattes sent to Mile- 
tus was about to arrive, Thrasybulus collected 
all the corn, and grain, and other provisions 
which he could command, and had them heaped 



108 Cyrus the Great. [B.C. 565. 

Success of the stratagem. A ti-eaty of peace concluded. 

up in a public part of the city, where the herald 
was to be received, so as to present indications 
of the most ample abundance of food. He col- 
lected a large body of his soldiers, too, and gave 
them leave to feast themselves without restric- 
tion on what he had thus gathered. Accord- 
ingly, when the herald came in to deliver his 
message, he found the whole city given up to 
feasting and revelry, and he saw stores of pro- 
visions at hand, which were in process of being 
distributed and consumed with the most prod- 
igal profusion. The herald reported this state 
of things to Alyattes. Alyattes then gave up 
all hopes of reducing Miletus by famine, and 
made a permanent peace, binding himself to its 
stipulations by a very solemn treaty. To eel- 
ebrate the event, too, he built two temples to 
Minerva instead of one. 

A story is related by Herodotus of a remark- 
able escape made by Arion at sea, which oc- 
curred during the reign of Alyattes, the father 
of Croesus. We will give the story as Herod- 
otus relates it, leaving the reader to judge for 
himself whether such tales were probably true, 
or were only introduced by Herodotus into his 
narrative to make his histories more entertain- 
ing to the Grecian assemblies to whom he read 



B.C. 565.] Crcesus. 109 

Story of Arion and the dolphin. The alternative. 

them. Arion was a celebrated singer. He had 
been making a tour in Sicily and in the south- 
ern part of Italy, where he had acquired con- 
siderable wealth, and he was now returning to 
Corinth. He embarked at Tarentum, which is 
a city in the southern part of Italy, in a Co- 
rinthian vessel, and put to sea. When the sail- 
ors found that they had him in their power, they 
determined to rob and murder him. They ac- 
cordingly seized his gold and silver, and then 
told him that he might either kill himself or 
jump overboard into the sea. One or the other 
he must do. If he would kill himself on board 
the vessel, they would give him decent burial 
when they reached the shore. 

Arion seemed at first at a loss how to decide 
in so hard an alternative. At length he told 
the sailors that he would throw himself into the 
sea, but he asked permission to sing them one 
of his songs before he took the fatal plunge. 
They consented. He accordingly went into the 
cabin, and spent some time in dressing himself 
magnificently in the splendid and richly-orna- 
mented robes in which he had been accustom- 
ed to appear upon the stage. At length he re- 
appeared, and took his position on the side of 
the ship, with his harp in his hand. He sang 



110 Cyrus the Great. [B.C. 560. 

Arion leaps into the sea. He is preserved by a dolphin. 

his song, accompanying himself upon the harp, 
and then, when he had finished his perform- 
ance, he leaped into the sea. The seamen di- 
vided their plunder and pursued their voyage. 
Arion, however, instead of being drowned, 
was taken up by a dolphin that had been charm- 
ed by his song, and was borne by him to Tse- 
narus, which is the promontory formed by the 
southern extremity of the Peloponnesus. There 
Arion landed in safety. From Teenarus he pro- 
ceeded to Corinth, wearing the same dress in 
which he had plunged into the sea. On his ar- 
rival, he complained to the king of the crime 
which the sailors had committed, and narrated 
his wonderful escape. The king did not be- 
lieve him, but put him in prison to wait until 
the ship should arrive. When at last the ves- 
sel came, the king summoned the sailors into 
his presence, and asked them if they knew any 
thing of Arion. Arion himself had been pre- 
viously placed in an adjoining room, ready to 
be called in as soon as his presence was requir- 
ed. The mariners answered to the question 
which the king put to them, that they had seen 
Arion in Tarentum, and that they had left him 
there. Arion was then himself called in. His 
sudden appearance, clothed as he was in the 



B.C. 560.] Crcesus. Ill 

Death of Alyattes. Succession of Croesus 

same dress in which the mariners had seen him 
leap into the sea, so terrified the conscience- 
stricken criminals, that they confessed their 
guilt, and were all punished by the king. A 
marble statue, representing a man seated upon 
a dolphin, was erected at Teenarus to commem- 
orate this event, where it remained for centu- 
ries afterward, a monument of the wonder which 
Arion had achieved. 

At length Alyattes died and Croesus suc- 
ceeded him. Croesus extended still further the 
power and fame of the Lydian empire, and was 
for a time very successful in all his military 
schemes. By looking upon the map, the read- 
er will see that the ^gean Sea, along the 
coasts of Asia Minor, is studded with islands. 
These islands were in those days very fertile 
and beautiful, and were densely inhabited by a 
commercial and maritime people, who possessed 
a multitude of ships, and were very powerful in 
all the adjacent seas. Of course their land 
forces were very few, whether of horse or of 
foot, as the habits and manners of such a sea- 
going people were all foreign to modes of war- 
fare required in land campaigns. On the sea, 
however, these islanders were supreme. 

Croesus formed a scheme for attacking these 



112 Cyrus THE Great. [B.C. 560. 

Plans of CrcBsus for subjugating the islands. 

islands and bringing them under his sway, and 
he began to make preparations for building and 
equipping a fleet for this purpose, though, of 
course, his subjects were as unused to the sea 
as the nautical islanders were to military oper- 
ations on the land. While he was making 
these preparations, a certain philosopher was 
visiting at his court : he was one of the seven 
wise men of Greece, who had recently come 
from the Peloponnesus. Croesus asked him if 
there was any news from that country. "I 
heard," said the philosopher, ''that the inhab- 
itants of the islands were preparing to invade 
your dominions with a squadron of ten thou- 
sand horse." Croesus, who supposed that the 
philosopher was serious, appeared greatly pleas- 
ed and elated at the prospect of his sea-faring 
enemies attempting to meet him as a body of 
cavalry. " No doubt," said the philosopher, 
after a little pause, "you would be pleased to 
have those sailors attempt to contend with you 
on horseback ; but do you not suppose that they 
will be equally pleased at the prospect of en- 
countering Lydian landsmen on the ocean ?" 

Croesus perceived the absurdity of his plan, 
and abandoned the attempt to execute it. 

Croesus acquired the enormous wealth for 



B.C. 560.] Crcesus. 113 

The golden sands of the Pactolus. The story of Midas. 

which he was so celebrated from the golden 
sands of the River Pactolus, which flowed 
through his kingdom. The river brought the 
particles of gold, in grains, and globules, and 
flakes, from the mountains above, and the ser- 
vants and slaves of Croesus washed the sands, 
and thus separated the heavier deposit of the 
metal. In respect to the origin of the gold, 
however, the people who lived upon the banks 
of the river had a different explanation from the 
simple one that the waters brought down the 
treasure from the mountain ravines. They had 
a story that, ages before, a certain king, named 
Midas, rendered some service to a god, who, in 
return, offered to grant him any favor that he 
might ask. Midas asked that the power might 
be granted him to turn whatever he touched 
into gold. The power was bestowed, and Mi- 
das, after changing various objects around him 
into gold until he was satisfied, began to find 
his new acquisition a source of great inconven- 
ience and danger. His clothes, his food, and 
even his drink, were changed to gold when he 
touched them. He found that he was about to 
starve in the midst of a world of treasure, and 
he implored the god to take back the fatal gift. 
The god directed him to go and bathe in the 
II 



114 Cyrus the Great. [B.C. 560. 

Wealth and renown of Crcesua. Visit of Solon. 

Pactolus, and he should be restored to his for- 
mer condition. Midas did so, and was saved, 
but not without transforming a great portion of 
the sands of the stream into gold during the 
process of his restoration. 

Croesus thus attained very speedily to a very 
high degree of wealth, prosperity, and renown. 
His dominions were widely extended ; his pal- 
aces were full of treasures ; his court was a 
scene of unexampled magnificence and splen- 
dor. While in the enjoyment of all this gran- 
deur, he was visited by Solon, the celebrated 
Grecian law-giver, who was traveling in that 
part of the world to observe the institutions and 
customs of different states. Croesus received 
Solon with great distinction, and showed him 
all his treasures. At last he one day said to 
him, "You have traveled, Solon, over many 
countries, and have studied, with a great deal 
of attention and care, all that you have seen. 
I have heard great commendations of your wis- 
dom, and I should like very much to know who, 
of all the persons you have ever known, has 
seemed to you most fortunate and happy." 

The king had no doubt that the answer w^ould 
be that he himself was the one. 

" I think," replied Solon, after a pause, '' that 



Crcesus. 115 



Croesus and Solon. What constitutes happiness. 

Tellus, an Athenian citizen, was the most for- 
tunate and happy man I have ever known." 

''Tellus, an Athenian!" repeated Croesus, 
surprised. " What was there in his case which 
you consider so remarkable?" 

"He was a peaceful and quiet citizen of 
Athens," said Solon. "He lived happily with 
his family, under a most excellent government, 
enjoying for many years all the pleasures of do- 
mestic life. He had several amiable and vir- 
tuous children, who all grew up to maturity, 
and loved and honored their parents as long as 
they lived. At length, when his life was draw- 
ing toward its natural termination, a war broke 
out with a neighboring nation, and Tellus went 
with the army to defend his country. He aided 
very essentially in the defeat of the enemy, but 
fell, at last, on the field of battle. His coun- 
trymen greatly lamented his death. They 
buried him publicly where he fell, with every 
circumstance of honor." 

Solon was proceeding to recount the domes- 
tic and social virtues of Tellus, and the peace- 
ful happiness which he enjoyed as the result 
of them, when Croesus interrupted him to ask 
who, next to Tellus, he considered the most 
fortunate and happy man. 



116 Cyrus the Great. [B.C. 545. 

Cleobis and Bito. Croesus displeased with Solon, 

Solon, after a little farther reflection, men- 
tioned two brothers, Cleobis and Bito, private 
persons among the Greeks, who were celebrated 
for their great personal strength, and also for 
their devoted attachment to their mother. He 
related to Croesus a story of a feat they per- 
formed on one occasion, when their mother, at 
the celebration of some public festival, was 
going some miles to a temple, in a car to be 
drawn by oxen. There happened to be some 
delay in bringing the oxen, while the mother 
was waiting in the car. As the oxen did not 
come, the young men took hold of the pole of 
the car themselves, and walked off at their ease 
with the load, amid the acclamations of the spec- 
tators, while their mother's heart was filled with 
exultation and pride. 

Croesus here interrupted the philosopher 
again, and expressed his surprise that he should 
place private men, like those whom he had 
named, who possessed no w^ealth, or prominence, 
or power, before a monarch like him, occupying 
a station of such high authority and renown, 
and possessing such boundless treasures. 

'^Croesus," replied Solon, ''I see you now, 
indeed, at the height of human power and gran- 
deur. You reign supreme over many nations, 



B.C. 545.] Cr(esu3. 117 

Solon treated with neglect. The two sons of CrcBsus. 

and you are in the enjoyment of unbounded 
affluence, and every species of luxury and splen- 
dor. I can not, however, decide whether I ani 
to consider you a fortunate and happy man, 
until I know how all this is to end. If we con- 
sider seventy years as the allotted period of life, 
you have a large portion of your existence yet 
to come, and we can not with certainty pro- 
nounce any man happy till his life is ended." 

This conversation with Solon made a deep 
impression upon Croesus's mind, as was after- 
ward proved in a remarkable manner ; but the 
impression was not a pleasant or a salutary 
one. The king, however, suppressed for the 
time the resentment which the presentation of 
these unwelcome truths awakened within him, 
though he treated Solon afterward with indif- 
ference and neglect, so that the philosopher soon 
found it best to withdraw. 

Croesus had two sons. One was deaf and 
dumb. The other was a young man of uncom- 
mon promise, and, of course, as he only could 
succeed his father in the government of the 
kingdom, he was naturally an object of the 
king's particular attention and care. His name 
was Atys. He was unmarried. He was, how- 
ever, old enough to have the command of a con- 



118 Cyrus the Great. [B.C.545. 

The king's di-eam. Arrival of Adrastus, 

siderable body of troops, and lie had often distin- 
guished himself in the Lydian campaigns. One 
night the king had a dream about Atys which 
greatly alarmed him. He dreamed that his 
son was destined to die of a wound received 
from the point of an iron spear. The king was 
made very uneasy by this ominous dream. He 
determined at once to take every precaution in 
his power to avert the threatened danger. He 
immediately detached Atys from his command 
in the army, and made provision for his mar- 
riage. He then very carefully collected all 
the darts, javelins, and every other iron-pointed 
weapon that he could find about the palace, and 
caused them to be deposited carefully in a se- 
cure place, where there could be no danger even 
of an accidental injury from them. 

About that time there appeared at the court 
of Croesus a stranger from Phrygia, a neigh- 
boring state, who presented himself at the pal- 
ace and asked for protection. He was a prince 
of the royal family of Phrygia, and his name 
was Adrastus. He had had the misfortune, 
by some unhappy accident, to kill his brother ; 
his father, in consequence of it, had banished 
him from his native land, and he was now home- 
less, friendless, and destitute. 



B.C. 545.] Crcesus. 119 

The wild boar. Precautious of CrcBsus. 

Croesus received him kindly. " Your family- 
have always been my friends," said he, ''and I 
am glad of the opportunity to make some re- 
turn by extending my protection to any member 
of it sufTerins: misfortune. You shall reside in 
my palace, and all your wants shall be supplied. 
Come in, and forget the calamity which has 
befallen you, instead ofdistressing yourself with 
it as if it had been a crime." 

Thus Croesus received the unfortunate Adras- 
tus into his household. After the prince had 
been domiciliated in his new home for some 
time, messengers came from Mysia, a neighbor- 
ing state, saying that a wild boar of enormous 
size and unusual ferocity had come down from 
the mountains, and was lurking in the cultivated 
country, in thickets and glens, from which, at 
night, he made great havoc among the flocks 
and herds, and asking that Croesus would send 
his son, with a band of hunters and a pack of 
dogs, to help them destroy the common enemy. 
Crcesus consented immediately to send the dogs 
and the men, but he said that he could not send 
his son. "My son," he added, "has been lately 
married, and his time and attention are em- 
ployed about other things." 

When, however, Atys himself heard of this 



120 Cyrus the Great. [B.C. 545. 

Remonstrance of Atys. Explanation of Croesus. 

reply, he remonstrated very earnestly against 
it, and begged his father to allow him to go. 
*'What will the world think of me," said he, 
"if I shut myself up to these effeminate pur- 
suits and enjoyments, and shun those dangers 
and toils which other men consider it their 
highest honor to share ? What will my fellow- 
citizens think of me, and how shall I appear in 
the eyes of my wife ? She will despise me." 

Croesus then explained to his son the reason 
why he had been so careful to avoid exposing 
him to danger. He related to him the dream 
which had alarmed him. "It is on that ac- 
count," said he, "that I am so anxious about 
you. You are, in fact, my only son, for your 
speechless brother can never be my heir." 

Atys said, in reply, that he was not surprised, 
under those circumstances, at his father's anx- 
iety ; but he maintained that this was a case 
to which his caution could not properly apply. 
"You dreamed," he said, "that I should be 
killed by a weapon pointed with iron ; but a 
boar has no such weapon. If the dream had 
portended that I was to perish by a tusk or a 
tooth, you might reasonably have restrained me 
from going to hunt a wild beast ; but iron-point- 
ed instruments are the weapons of men, and we 



B.C. 545.] Crcesus. 121 

Atys joins the expedition. He is killed by Adrastus. 

are not going, in this expedition, to contend 
with men." 

The king, partly convinced, perhaps, by the 
arguments which Atys offered, and partly over- 
borne by the urgency of his request, finally con- 
sented to his request and allowed him to go. 
He consigned him, however, to the special care 
of Adrastus, who was likewise to accompany 
the expedition, charging Adrastus to keep con- 
stantly by his side, and to watch over him with 
the utmost vigilance and fidelity. 

The band of huntsmen was organized, the 
dogs prepared, and the train departed. Very 
soon afterward, a messenger came back from 
the hunting ground, breathless, and with a coun- 
tenance of extreme concern and terror, bring- 
ing the dreadful tidings that Atys was dead. 
Adrastus himself had killed him. In the ardor 
of the chase, while the huntsmen had sur- 
rounded the boar, and were each intent on his 
own personal danger while in close combat with 
such a monster, and all were hurling darts and 
javelins at their ferocious foe, the spear of 
Adrastus missed its aim, and entered the body 
of the unhappy prince. He bled to death on 
the spot. 

Soon after the messenger had made known 



122 Cyrus the Great. [B.C. 545. 

Anguish of Adrastus. Burial of Atys. 

these terrible tidings, the hunting train, trans- 
formed now into a funeral procession, appeared, 
bearing the dead body of the king's son, and 
followed by the wretched Adrastus himself, who 
was wringing his hands, and crying out inces- 
santly in accents and exclamations of despair. 
He begged the king to kill him at once, over 
the body of his son, and thus put an end to the 
unutterable agony that he endured. This sec- 
ond calamity was more, he said, than he could 
bear. He had killed before his own brother, 
and now he had murdered the son of his great- 
est benefactor and friend. 

Croesus, though overwhelmed with anguish, 
was disarmed of all resentment at witnessing 
Adrastus's suffering. He endeavored to soothe 
and quiet the agitation which the unhappy man 
endured, but it was in vain. Adrastus could 
not be calmed. Croesus then ordered the body 
of his son to be buried with proper honors. The 
funeral services were performed with great and 
solemn ceremonies, and when the body was in- 
terred, the household of Croesus returned to the 
palace, which was now, in spite of all its splen- 
dor, shrouded in gloom. That night — at mid- 
night — Adrastus, finding his mental anguish 
insupportable, retired from his apartment to 



B.C. 54o.] Crcesus. 123 

Adrastus kills himself. Grief of Croesus. 

the place where Atys had been buried, and 
killed himself over the grave. 

Solon was wise in saying that he could not 
tell whether wealth and grandeur were to be 
accounted as happiness till he saw how they 
would end. Crcesus was plunged into incon- 
solable grief, and into extreme dejection and 
misery for a period of two years, in consequence 
of this calamity, and yet this calamity was only 
the beginning of the end. 



124 Cyrus the Great. [B.C. 560. 

Change in the character of Cyrus. His ambition. 



Chapter V. 

Accession of Cyrus to the Throne. 

T^THILE Croesus had thus, on his side of 
^ ^ the River Hatys — which was the stream 
that marked the boundary between the Lydian 
empire on the west and the Persian and Assyr- 
ian dominions on the east — ^been employed in 
building up his grand structure of outward 
magnificence and splendor, and in contending, 
within, against an overwhelming tide of domes- 
tic misery and woe, great changes had taken 
place in the situation and prospects of Cyrus. 
From being an artless and generous-minded 
child, he had become a calculating, ambitious, 
and aspiring man, and he was preparing to take 
his part in the great public contests and strug- 
gles of the day, with the same eagerness for 
self-aggrandizement, and the same unconcern 
for the welfare and happiness of others, which 
always characterizes the spirit of ambition and 
love of power. 

Although it is by no means certain that what 
Xenophon relates of his visit to his grandfather 



B.C. 560.] Accession. 125 

Capriciousness of Astyages. 

Astyages is meant for a true narrative of facts, 
it is not at all improbable that such a visit 
might have been made, and that occurrences, 
somewhat similar, at least, to those which his 
narrative records, may have taken place. It 
may seem strange to the reader that a man who 
should, at one time, wish to put his grandchild 
to death, should, at another, be disposed to treat 
him with such a profusion of kindness and at- 
tention. There is nothing, however, really ex- 
traordinary in this. Nothing is more fluctuat- 
ing than the caprice of a despot. Man, accus- 
tomed from infancy to govern those around him 
by his own impetuous will, never learns self- 
control. He gives himself up to the dominion 
of the passing animal emotions of the hour. It 
may be jealousy, it may be revenge, it may be 
parental fondness, it may be hate, it may be 
love — whatever the feeling is that the various 
incidents of life, as they occur, or the influ- 
ences, irritating or exhilarating, which are pro- 
duced by food or wine, awaken in his mind, he 
follows its impulse blindly and without reserve. 
He loads a favorite with kindness and caresses 
at one hour, and directs his assassination the 
next. He imagines that his infant grandchild 
is to become his rival, and he deliberately or- 



126 Cyrus the Great. [B.C. 560. 

Cyrus makes great progress in mental and personal accomplishments, 

ders him to be left in a gloomy forest alone, to 
die of cold and hunger. When the imaginary 
danger has passed away, he seeks amusement 
in making the same grandchild his plaything, 
and overwhelms him with favors bestowed sole- 
Jy for the gratification of the giver, under the 
influence of an affection almost as purely ani- 
mal as that of a lioness for her young. 

Favors of such a sort can awaken no perma- 
nent gratitude in any heart, and thus it is quite 
possible that Cyrus might have evinced, during 
the simple and guileless days of his childhood, 
a deep veneration and affection for his grand- 
father, and yet, in subsequent years, when he 
had arrived at full maturity, have learned to 
regard him simply in the light of a great polit- 
ical potentate, as likely as any other potentate 
around him to become his rival or his enemy. 

This was, at all events, the result. Cyrus, 
on his return to Persia, grew rapidly in strength 
and stature, and soon became highly distin- 
guished for his personal grace, his winning 
manners, and for the various martial accom- 
plishments which he had acquired in Media, 
and in which he excelled almost all his compan- 
ions. He gained, as such princes always do, a 
vast ascendency over the minds of all around 



B.C. 560.] Accession. 127 

Harpagus's plans for revenge. Suspicions of Astyagea. 

him. As he advanced toward maturity, his 
mind passed from its interest in games, and 
hunting, and athletic sports, to plans of war, of 
conquest, and of extended dominion. 

In the mean time, Harpagus, though he had, 
at the time when he endured the horrid punish- 
ment which Astyages inflicted upon him, ex- 
pressed no resentment, still he had secretly felt 
an extreme indignation and anger, and he had 
now, for fifteen years, been nourishing covert 
schemes and plans for revenge. He remained 
all this time in the court of Astyages, and was 
apparently his friend. He was, however, in 
heart a most bitter and implacable enemy. He 
was looking continually for a plan or prospect 
which should promise some hope of affording 
him his long-desired revenge. His eyes were 
naturally turned toward Cyrus. He kept up a 
communication with him so far as it was pos- 
sible, for Astyages watched very closely what 
passed between the two countries, being always 
suspicious of plots against his government and 
crown. Harpagus, however, contrived to evade 
this vigilance in some degree. He made con- 
tinual reports to Cyrus of the tyranny and mis- 
government of Astyages, and of the defenseless- 
ness of the realm of Media, and he endeavored 



128 Cyrus the Great. [B.C. 560. 

Condition of Persia. Discontent in Media. 

to stimulate his rising ambition to the desire of 
one day possessing for himself both the Median 
and Persian throne. 

In fact, Persia was not then independent of 
Media. It was more or less connected with the 
government of Astyages, so that Cambyses, the 
chief ruler of Persia, Cyrus's father, is called 
sometimes a king and sometimes a satrap, 
which last title is equivalent to that of viceroy 
or governor general. Whatever his true and 
proper title may have been, Persia was a Me- 
dian dependency, and Cyrus, therefore, in form- 
ing plans for gaining possession of the Median 
throne, would consider himself as rather endeav- 
oring to rise to the supreme command in his 
own native country, than as projecting any 
scheme for foreign conquest. 

Harpagus, too, looked upon the subject in the 
same light. Accordingly, in pushing forward 
his plots toward their execution, he operated in 
Media as well as Persia. He ascertained, by 
diligent and sagacious, but by very covert in- 
quiries, who were discontented and ill at ease 
under the dominion of Astyages, and by sympa- 
thizing with and encouraging them, he increas- 
ed their discontent and insubmission. When- 
ever Astyages, in the exercise of his tyranny, 



B.C. 560.1 Accession. 129 



Proceedings of Harpagus. His deportment toward Astyages. 

inflicted an injury upon a powerful subject, 
Harpagus espoused the cause of the injured 
man, condemned, with him, the intolerable op- 
pression of the king, and thus fixed and perpet- 
uated his enmity. At the same time, he took 
pains to collect and to disseminate among the 
Medes all the information which he could ob- 
tain favorable to Cyrus, in respect to his talents, 
his character, and his just and generous spirit, 
so that, at length, the ascendency of Astyages, 
through the instrumentality of these measures, 
was very extensively undermined, and the way 
was rapidly becoming prepared for Cyrus's ac- 
cession to power. 

During all this time, moreover, Harpagus 
was personally very deferential and obsequious 
to Astyages, and professed an unbounded devot- 
edness to his interests. He maintained a high 
rank at court and in the army, and Astyages 
relied upon him as one of the most obedient and 
submissive of his servants, without entertaining 
any suspicion whatever of his true designs. 

At length a favorable occasion arose, as Har- 
pagus thought, for the execution of his plans. 
It was at a time when Astyages had been guilty 
of some unusual acts of tyranny and oppression, 
by w^hich he had produced extensive dissatis- 
I 



130 Cyrus the Great. [B.C. 560. 

Co-operation in Media. Harpagus writes to Cyrus. 

faction among his people. Harpagus commu- 
nicated, very cautiously, to the principal men 
around him, the designs that he had long been 
forming for deposing Astyages and elevating 
Cyrus in his place. He found them favorably 
inclined to the plan. The way being thus pre- 
pared, the next thing was to contrive some se- 
cret way of communicating with Cyrus. As 
the proposal which he was going to make was 
that Cyrus should come into Media with as 
great a force as he could command, and head 
an insurrection against the government of As- 
tyages, it would, of course, be death to him to 
have it discovered. He did not dare to trust 
the message to any living messenger, for fear 
of betrayal ; nor was it safe to send a letter 
by any ordinary mode of transmission, lest the 
letter should be intercepted by some of Astya- 
ges's spies, and thus the whole plot be discov- 
ered. He finally adopted the following very ex- 
traordinary plan : 

He wrote a letter to Cyrus, and then taking 
a hare, which some of his huntsmen had caught 
for him, he opened the body and concealed the 
letter within. He then sewed up the skin 
again in the most careful manner, so that no 
signs of the incision should remain. He deliv- 



B.C. 560.] Accession. 133 

Harpagus's singular method of conveying his letter to Cyrus. 

ered this hare, together with some nets and 
other hunting apparatus, to certain trustworthy 
servants, on whom he thought he could rely, 
charging them to deliver the hare into Cyrus's 
own hands, and to say that it came from Har- 
pagus, and that it was the request of Harpagus 
that Cyrus should open it himself and alone. 
Harpagus concluded that this mode of making 
the communication was safe ; for, in case the 
persons to whom the hare was intrusted were 
to be seen by any of the spies or other persons 
employed by Astyages on the frontiers, they 
would consider them as hunters returning from 
the chase with their game, and would never 
think of examining the body of a hare, in the 
hands of such a party, in search after a clan- 
destine correspondence. 

The plan v/as perfectly successful. The men 
passed into Persia without any suspicion. They 
delivered the hare to Cyrus, with their message. 
He opened the hare, and found the letter. It 
was in substance as follows : 

'^ It is plain, Cyrus, that you are a favorite 
of Heaven, and that you are destined to a great 
and glorious career. You could not otherwise 
have escaped, in so miraculous a manner, the 



134 Cyrus the Great. [B.C. 560. 

Contents of Harpagus's letter. Excitement of Cyrus. 

snares set for you in your infancy. Astyages 
meditated your death, and he took such meas- 
ures to effect it as would seem to have made 
your destruction sure. You were saved by the 
special interposition of Heaven. You are aware 
by what extraordinary incidents you were pre- 
served and discovered, and what great and un- 
usual prosperity has since attended you. You 
know, too, what cruel punishments Astyages 
inflicted upon me, for my humanity in saving 
you. The time has now come for retribution. 
From this time the authority and the dominions 
of Astyages may be yours. Persuade the Per- 
sians to revolt. Put yourself at the head of an 
army, and march into Media. I shall probably 
myself be appointed to command the army sent 
out to oppose you. If so, we will join our forces 
when we meet, and I will enter your service. 
I have conferred with the leading nobles in Me- 
dia, and they are all ready to espouse your 
cause. You may rely upon finding every thing 
thus prepared for you here ; come, therefore, 
without any delay." 

Cyrus was thrown into a fever of excitement 
and agitation on reading this letter. He de- 
termined to accede to Harpagus's proposal. Ho 



B.C. 560.] Accession. 135 

Cyrus accedes to Harpagus's plan. How to raise an army. 

revolved in his mind for some time the meas- 
ures by w^hich he could raise the necessary 
force. Of course he could not openly announce 
his plan and enlist an army to efTect it, for any 
avow^ed and public movement of that kind 
would be immediately made known to Astya- 
ges, who, by being thus forewarned of his ene- 
mies' designs, might take effectual measures to 
circumvent them. He determined to resort to 
deceit, or, as he called it, stratagem ; nor did 
he probably have any distinct perception of the 
wrongfulness of such a mode of proceeding. 
The demon of war upholds and justifies false- 
hood and treachery, in all its forms, on the part 
of his votaries. He always applauds a forgery, a 
false pretense, or a lie : he calls it a stratagem. 
Cyrus had a letter prepared, in the form of a 
commission from Astyages, appointing him com- 
mander of a body of Persian forces to be raised 
for the service of the king. Cyrus read the 
fabricated document in the public assembly of 
the Persians, and called upon all the warriors 
to join him. When they were organized, he 
ordered them to assemble on a certain day, at 
a place that he named, each one provided with 
a woodman's ax. When they were thus mus- 
tered, he marched them into a forest, and set 



136 Cyrus the Great. [B.C. 560. 

The day of toil. The day of festivity. 

them at work to clear a piece of ground. The 
army toiled allday, felling the trees, and piling 
them up to be burned. They cleared in this 
way, as Herodotus states, a piece of ground 
eighteen or twenty furlongs in extent. Cyrus 
kept them thus engaged in severe and incessant 
toil all the day, giving them, too, only coarse 
food and little rest. At night he dismissed them, 
commanding them to assemble again the sec- 
ond day. 

On the second day, when they came togeth- 
er, they found a great banquet prepared for 
them, and Cyrus directed them to devote the 
day to feasting and making merry. There was 
an abundance of meats of all kinds, and rich 
wines in great profusion. The soldiers gave 
themselves up for the whole day to merriment 
and revelry. The toils and the hard fare of the 
day before had prepared them very effectually 
to enjoy the rest and the luxuries of this festi- 
val. They spent the hours in feasting about 
their camp-fires and reclining on the grass, 
where they amused themselves and one another 
by relating tales, or joining in merry songs and 
dances. At last, in the evening, Cyrus called 
them together, and asked them which day they 
had liked the best. They replied that there 



B.C. 560.] Accession. 137 

Speech of Cyrus. Ardor of the soldiers. 

was nothing at all to like in the one, and noth- 
ing to be disliked in the other. They had had, 
on the first day, hard work and bad fare, and 
on the second, uninterrupted ease and the most 
luxurious pleasures. 

'' It is indeed so," said Cyrus, " and you 
have your destiny in your own hands to make 
your lives pass like either of these days, just as 
you choose. If you will follow me, you will en- 
joy ease, abundance, and luxury. If you re- 
fuse, you must remain as you are, and toil on 
as you do now, and endure your present priva- 
tions and hardships to the end of your days." 
He then explained to them his designs. He 
told them that although Media was a great and 
powerful kingdom, still that they were as good 
soldiers as the Medes, and with the arrange- 
ments and preparations which he had made, 
they were sure of victory. 

The soldiers received this proposal with great 
enthusiasm and joy. They declared themselves 
ready to follow Cyrus wherever he should lead 
them, and the whole body immediately com- 
menced making preparations for the expedition. 
Astyages was, of course, soon informed of these 
proceedings. He sent an order to Cyrus, sum- 
moning him immediately into his presence. 



138 Cyrus the Great. [B.C. 560. 

Defection of Harpagus. The battle. 

Cyrus sent back word, in reply, that Astyages 
would probably see him sooner than he wished, 
and went on vigorously with his preparations. 
When all was ready, the army marched, and, 
crossing the frontiers, they entered into Media. 

In the mean time, Astyages had collected a 
large force, and, as had been anticipated by the 
conspirators, he put it under the command of 
Harpagus. Harpagus made known his design 
of going over to Cyrus as soon as he should 
meet him, to as large a portion of the army as 
he thought it prudent to admit to his confi- 
dence ; the rest knew nothing of the plan ; and 
thus the Median army advanced to meet the 
invaders, a part of the troops with minds intent 
on resolutely meeting and repelling their ene- 
mies, while the rest were secretly preparing to 
go over at once to their side. 

When the battle was joined, the honest part 
of the Median army fought valiantly at first, 
but soon, thunderstruck and utterly confounded 
at seeing themselves abandoned and betrayed 
by a large body of their comrades, they were 
easily overpowered by the triumphant Persians. 
Some were taken prisoners ; some fled back to 
Astyages ; and others, following the example of 
the deserters, went over to Cyrus's camp and 



B.C. 560.] Accession. 139 

Rage of Astyages. His vengeance on the magi. 

swelled the numbers of his train. Cyrus, thus 
re-enforced by the accessions he had received, 
and encouraged by the flight or dispersion of all 
who still wished to oppose him, began to ad- 
vance toward the capital. 

Astyages, when he heard of the defection of 
Harpagus and of the discomfiture of his army, 
was thrown into a perfect phrensy of rage and 
hate. The long-dreaded prediction of his dream 
seemed now about to be fulfilled, and the magi, 
who had taught him that when Cyrus had once 
been made king of the boys in sport, there was 
no longer any danger of his aspiring to regal 
power, had proved themselves false. They had 
either intentionally deceived him, or they were 
ignorant themselves, and in that case they were 
worthless impostors. Although the danger from 
Cyrus's approach was imminent in the extreme, 
Astyages could not take any measures for 
guarding against it until he had first gratified 
the despotic cruelty of his nature by taking ven- 
geance on these false pretenders. He directed 
to have them all seized and brought before him, 
and then, having upbraided them with bitter 
reproaches for their false predictions, he order- 
ed them all to be crucified. 

He then adopted the most decisive measures 



140 Cyrus the Great. [B.C.560. 

Defeat and captxire of Astyages. Interview with Harpagus. 

for raising an army. He ordered every man 
capable of bearing arms to come forward, and 
then, putting himself at the head of the im- 
mense force which he had thus raised, he ad- 
vanced to meet his enemy. He supposed, no 
doubt, that he was sure of victory ; but he un- 
derrated the power which the discipline, the 
resolution, the concentration, and the terrible 
energy of Cyrus's troops gave to their formida- 
ble array. He was defeated. His army was 
totally cut to pieces, and he himself was taken 
prisoner. 

Harpagus was present when he was taken, 
and he exulted in revengeful triumph over the 
fallen tyrant's ruin. Astyages was filled with 
rage and despair. Harpagus asked him what 
he thought now of the supper in which he had 
compelled a father to feed on the flesh of his 
child. Astyages, in reply, asked Harpagus 
whether he thought that the success of Cyrus 
was owing to what he had done. Harpagus 
replied that it was, and exultingly explained to 
Astyages the plots he had formed, and the prepa- 
rations which he had made for Cyrus's invasion, 
so that Astyages might see that his destruc- 
tion had been effected by Harpagus alone, in 
terrible retribution for the atrocious crime which 



B.C. 560.] Accession. 141 

Cyrus King of Media and Persia. Confinement of Astyages. 

he had committed so many years before, and 
for which the vengeance of the sufferer had 
slumbered, during the long interval, only to be 
more complete and overwhelming at last. 

Astyages told Harpagus that he was a mis- 
erable wretch, the most foolish and most wicked 
of mankind. He was the most foolish, for hav- 
ing plotted to put power into another's hands 
which it would have been just as easy for him 
to have secured and retained in his own ; and 
he was the most wicked, for having betrayed 
his country, and delivered it over to a foreign 
power, merely to gratify his own private re- 
venge. 

The result of this battle was the complete 
overthrow of the power and kingdom of Asty- 
ages, and the establishment of Cyrus on the 
throne of the united kingdom of Media and Per- 
sia. Cyrus treated his grandfather with kind- 
ness after his victory over him. He kept him 
confined, it is true, but it was probably that in- 
direct and qualified sort of confinement which 
is all that is usually enforced in the case of 
princes and kings. In such cases, some exten- 
sive and often sumptuous residence is assigned 
to the illustrious prisoner, with grounds suf- 
ficiently extensive to afford every necessary 



142 Cyrus the Great. [B.C.560. 

Acquiescence of the Medes. Death of Astyages. 

range for recreation and exercise, and with 
bodies of troops for keepers, which have much 
more the form and appearance of miUtary 
guards of honor attending on a prince, than of 
jailers confining a prisoner. It was probably 
in such an imprisonment as this that Astyages 
passed the remainder of his days. The people, 
having been wearied with his despotic tyranny, 
rejoiced in his downfall, and acquiesced very 
readily in the milder and more equitable gov- 
ernment of Cyrus. 

Astyages came to his death many years aft- 
erward, in a somewhat remarkable manner. 
Cyrus sent for him to come into Persia, where 
he was himself then residing. The officer who 
had Astyages in charge, conducted him, on the 
way, into a desolate wilderness, where he per- 
ished of fatigue, exposure, and hunger. It was 
supposed that this was done in obedience to se- 
cret orders from Cyrus, who perhaps found the 
charge of such a prisoner a burden. The offi- 
cer, however, was cruelly punished for the act ; 
but even this may have been only for appear- 
ances, to divert the minds of men from all sus- 
picion that Cyrus could himself have been an 
accomplice in such a crime. 

The whole revolution which has been describ- 



B.C.560.] Accession. 


143 


Suddenness of Cyrus's elevation. 


Harpagus. 



ed in this chapter, from its first inception to its 
final accomplishment, was effected in a very 
short period of time, and Cyrus thus found him- 
self very unexpectedly and suddenly elevated to 
a throne. 

Harpagus continued in his service, and be- 
came subsequently one of his most celebrated 
generals. 



144 Cyrus the Great. [6.0.547. 

Plans of Croesus. The River Hal vs. 



Chapter VI. 
The Oracles. 

AS soon as Cyrus had become established 
on his throne as King of the Medes and 
Persians, his influence and power began to ex- 
tend westward toward the confines of the em- 
pire of Croesus, king of Lydia. Croesus was 
aroused from the dejection and stupor into 
which the death of his son had plunged him, as 
related in a former chapter, by this threatening 
danger. He began to consider very earnestly 
what he could do to avert it. 

The River Halys, a great river of Asia Mi- 
nor, which flows northward into the Black Sea, 
was the eastern boundary of the Lydian em- 
pire. Croesus began to entertain the design of 
raising an army and crossing the Halys, to in- 
vade the empire of Cyrus, thinking that that 
would perhaps be safer policy than to wait for 
Cyrus to cross the Halys, and bring the war 
upon him. Still, the enterprise of invading Per- 
sia was a vast undertaking, and the responsi- 
bility great of being the aggressor in the con- 



B.C. 547.] The Oracles. 145 

Nature of the oracles. Situation of Delphi. 

test. After carefully considering the subject in 
all its aspects, Crcesus found himself still per- 
plexed and undecided. 

The Greeks had a method of looking into 
futurity, and of ascertaining, as they imagined, 
by supernatural means, the course of future 
events, which was peculiar to that people ; at 
least no other nation seems ever to have prac- 
ticed it in the precise form which prevailed 
among them. It was by means of the oracles. 
There were four or five localities in the Gre- 
cian countries which possessed, as the people 
thought, the property of inspiring persons who 
visited them, or of giving to some natural ob- 
ject certain supernatural powers by which fu- 
ture events could be foretold. The three most 
important of these oracles were situated re- 
spectively at Delphi, at Dodona, and at the 
Oasis of Jupiter Amnion. 

Delphi was a small town built in a sort of 
valley, shaped like an amphitheater, on the 
southern side of Mount Parnassus. Mount Par- 
nassus is north of the Peloponnesus, not very 
far from the shores of the Gulf of Corinth. 
Delphi was in a picturesque and romantic situ- 
ation, with the mountain behind it, and steep, 
precipitous rocks descending to the level coun- 
K 



146 Cyrus the Great. [E.G. 547. 

The gaseous vapor. The priestess. The sacred tripod. 

try before. These precipices answered instead 
of walls to defend the temple and the town. 
In very early times a cavern or fissure in the 
rocks was discovered at Delphi, from which 
there issued a stream of gaseous vapor, which 
produced strange effects on those who inhaled 
it. It was supposed to inspire them. People 
resorted to the place to obtain the benefit of 
these inspirations, and of the knowledge which 
they imagined they could obtain by means of 
them. Finally, a temple was built, and a 
priestess resided constantly in it, to inhale the 
vapor and give the responses. When she gave 
her answers to those who came to consult the 
oracle, she sat upon a sort of three-legged stool, 
which was called the sacred tripod. These 
stools were greatly celebrated as a very import- 
ant part of the sacred apparatus of the place. 
This oracle became at last so renowned, that 
the greatest potentates, and even kings, came 
from great distances to consult it, and they 
made very rich and costly presents at the shrine 
Yfhen they ca-me. These presents, it was sup- 
posed, tended to induce the god who presided 
over the oracle to give to those who made them 
favorable and auspicious replies. The deity that 
dictated the predictions of this oracle was Apnllo. 



B.C. 547.] The Oracles. 147 

The oracle of Dodona. The two black doves. 

There was another ch'cumstance, besides the 
existence of the cave, which signalized the lo- 
cality where this oracle was situated. The 
people believed that this spot was the exact 
center of the earth, which of course they con- 
sidered as one vast plain. There was an an- 
cient story that Jupiter, in order to determine 
the central point of creation, liberated two ea- 
gles at the same time, in opposite quarters of 
the heavens, that they might fly toward one 
another, and so mark the middle point by the 
place of their meeting. They met at Delphi. 

Another of the most celebrated oracles was 
at Dodona. Dodona was northwest of Delphi, 
in the Epirus, which was a country in the 
western part of what is now Turkey in Europe, 
and on the shores of the Adriatic Sea. The or- 
igin of the oracle at Dodona was, as the priest- 
esses there told Herodotus, as follows : In very 
ancient times, two black doves were set at lib- 
erty in Thebes, which was a very venerable 
and sacred city of Egypt. One flew toward 
the north and the other toward the west. The 
former crossed the Mediterranean, and then 
continued its flight over the Peloponnesus, and 
over all the southern provinces of Greece, until 
it reached Dodona. There it alighted on a 



148 Cyrus the Great. [B.C. 547. 

The priestesses of Dodona. Manner of obtaining responses. 

beech-tree, and said, in a human voice, that 
that spot was divinely appointed for the seat of 
a sacred oracle. The other dove flew to the 
Oasis of Jupiter Ammon. 

There were three priestesses at Dodona in 
the days of Herodotus. Their names were Pro- 
menea, Timarete, and Nicandre. The answers 
of the oracle were, for a time, obtained by the 
priestesses from some appearances which they 
observed in the sacred beech on which the dove 
alighted, when the tree was agitated by the 
wind. In later times, however, the responses 
were obtained in a still more singular manner. 
There was a brazen statue of a man, holding a 
whip in his hand. The whip had three lashes, 
which were formed of brazen chains. At the 
end of each chain was an astragalus, as it was 
called, which was a row of little knots or knobs, 
such as were commonly appended to the lashes 
of whips used in those days for scourging crim- 
inals. 

These heavy lashes hung suspended in the 
hand of the statue over a great brazen caldron, 
in such a manner that the wind would impel 
them, from time to time, against its sides, caus- 
ing the caldron to ring and resound like a gong. 
There was, however, something in this reso- 



B.C.547.J The Oracles. 149 

The great brazen caldron. The Oasis of Jupiter Ammon. 

nance supernatural and divine ; for, though it 
was not loud, it was very long continued, when 
once the margin of the caldron was touched, 
however gently, by the lashes. In fact, it was 
commonly said that if touched in the morning, 
it would be night before the reverberations 
would have died entirely away. Such a belief 
could be very easily sustained among the com- 
mon people ; for a large, open-mouthed vessel 
like the Dodona caldron, with thin sides formed 
of sonorous metal, might be kept in a state of 
continual vibration by the wind alone. 

They who wished to consult this oracle came 
with rich presents both for the priestesses and 
for the shrine, and when they had made the 
offerings, and performed the preliminary cere- 
monies required, they propounded their ques- 
tions to the priestesses, who obtained the re- 
plies by interpreting, according to certain rules 
which they had formed, the sounds emitted by 
the mysterious gong. 

The second black dove which took its flight 
from Thebes alighted, as we have already said, 
in the Oasis of Jupiter Ammon. This oasis 
was a small fertile spot in the midst of the des- 
erts of Africa, west of Egypt, about a hundred 
miles from the Nile, and somewhat nearer than 



150 Cyrus the Great. [B.C. 547. 

Discoveiy of the Oasis of Jupiter Ammon. Other oracles. 

tliat to the Mediterranean Sea. It was first 
discovered in the following manner : A certain 
king was marching across the deserts, and his 
army, having exhausted their supplies of water, 
were on the point of perishing with thirst, when 
a ram mysteriously appeared, and took a posi- 
tion before them as their guide. They followed 
him, and at length came suddenly upon a green 
and fertile valley, many miles in length. The 
ram conducted them into this valley, and then 
suddenly vanished, and a copious fountain of 
water sprung up in the place where he had 
stood. The king, in gratitude for this divine 
interposition, consecrated the spot and built a 
temple upon it^ which was called the temple of 
Jupiter Ammon. The dove alighted here, and 
ever afterward the oracles delivered by the 
priests of this temple were considered as di- 
vinely inspired. 

These three were the most important oracles. 
There were, however, many others of subordi- 
nate consequence, each of which had its own 
peculiar ceremonies, all senseless and absurd. 
At one there was a sort of oven-shaped cave in 
the rocks, the spot being inclosed by an arti- 
ficial wall. The cave was about six feet wide 
and eight feet deep. The descent into it was 



B.C. 547.] The Oracles. 151 

Mode of consulting the oracle. Mystic ceremonies. 

by a ladder. Previously to consulting this or- 
acle certain ceremonies were necessary, which 
it required several days to perform. The ap- 
plicant was to offer sacrifices to many different 
deities, and to purify himself in various ways. 
He was then conducted to a stream in the 
neighborhood of the oracle, where he was to be 
anointed and washed. Then he drank a cer- 
tain magical water, called the water of forget- 
fulness, which made him forget all previous sor- 
rows and cares. Afterward he drank of anoth- 
er enchanted cup, which contained the water of 
remembrance ; this was to make him remem- 
ber all that should be communicated to him in 
the cave. He then descended the ladder, and 
received within the cave the responses of the 
oracle. 

At another of these oracles, Vv^hich was situ- 
ated in Attica, the magic virtue was supposed 
to reside in a certain marble statue, carved in 
honor of an ancient and celebrated prophet, and 
placed in a temple. Whoever wished to con- 
sult this oracle must abstain from wine for 
three days, and from food of every kind for 
twenty-four hours preceding the application. 
He was then to offer a ram as a sacrifice ; and 
afterward, taking the skin of the ram from the 



152 Cyrus the Great. [B.C. 547. 

Croesus puts the oracles to the test. Manner of doing it. 

carcass, he was to spread it out before the statue, 
and lie down upon it to sleep. The answers of 
the oracle came to him in his dreams. 

But to return to Croesus. He wished to as- 
certain, by consulting some of these oracles, 
what the result of his proposed invasion of the 
dominions of Cyrus would be, in case he should 
undertake it ; and in order to determine which 
of the various oracles were most worthy of re- 
liance, he conceived the plan of putting them 
all to a preliminary test. He effected this ob- 
ject in the following manner : 

He dispatched a number of messengers from 
Sardis, his capital, sending one to each of the 
various oracles. He directed these messengers 
to make their several journeys with all conven- 
ient dispatch ; but, in order to provide for any 
cases of accidental detention or delay, he allow- 
ed them all one hundred days to reach, their 
several places of destination. On the hundredth 
day from the time of their leaving Sardis, they 
were all to make applications to the oracles, 
and inquire what Croesus, king of Lydia, was 
doing at that time. Of course he did not tell 
them what he should be doing ; and as the ora- 
cles themselves could not possibly know how he 
was employed by any human powers, their an- 



1 



B.C. 547.] The Oracles. 153 

Return of the messengers. The rephes. 

swers would seem to test the validity of their 
claims to powers divine. 

Croesus kept the reckoning of the days him- 
self with great care, and at the hour appointed 
on the hundredth day, he employed himself in 
boiling the flesh of a turtle and of a lamb to- 
gether in a brazen vessel. The vessel was cov- 
ered with a lid, which was also of brass. He 
then awaited the return of the messengers. 
They came in due time, one after another, 
bringing the replies which they had severally 
obtained. The replies were all unsatisfactory, 
except that of the oracle at Delphi. This an- 
swer was in verse, as, in fact, the responses of 
that oracle always were. The priestess who 
sat upon the tripod was accustomed to give 
the replies in an incoherent and half-intelligible 
manner, as impostors are very apt to do in ut- 
tering prophecies, and then the attendant priests 
and secretaries wrote them out in verse. 

The verse which the messenger brought back 
from the Delphic tripod was in Greek ; but 
some idea of its style, and the import of it, is 
conveyed by the following imitation ; 

" I number the sands, I measure the sea, 
What's hidden to others is known to me. 
The lainb and the tartle are simmering slow, 
With brass above them and brass below." 



154 Cyrus the Great. [B.C. 547. 

Croesus decides in favor of Delphi. His costly gifts. 

Of course, Croesus decided that the Delphic 
oracle was the one that he must rely upon for 
guidance in respect to his projected campaign. 
And he now began to prepare to consult it in 
a manner corresponding with the vast import- 
ance of the subject, and with his own bound- 
less wealth. He provided the most extraordi- 
nary and sumptuous presents. Some of these 
treasures were to be deposited in the temple, 
as sacred gifts, for permanent preservation there. 
Others were to be offered as a burnt sacrifice in 
honor of the god. Among the latter, besides 
an incredible number of living victims, he 
caused to be prepared a great number of couch- 
es, magnificently decorated with silver and gold, 
and goblets and other vessels of gold, and dresses 
of various kinds richly embroidered, and numer- 
ous other articles, all intended to be used in the 
ceremonies preliminary to his application to the 
oracle. When the time arrived, a vast con- 
course of people assembled to witness the spec- 
tacle. The animals were sacrificed, and the 
people feasted on the flesh ; and when these 
ceremonies were concluded, the couches, the 
goblets, the utensils of every kind, the dresses — 
every thing, in short, v\^hich had been used on 
the occasion, were heaped up into one great sac- 



B.C. 547.] The Oracles. 155 

The silver tank. Tlie golden lion, 

rificial pile, and set on fire. Every thing that 
was combustible was consumed, while the gold 
was melted, and ran into plates of great size, 
which were afterward taken out from the ashes. 
Thus it was the workmanship only of these ar- 
ticles which was destroyed and lost by the fire. 
The gold, in which the chief value consisted, 
was saved. It was gold from the Pactolus. 

Besides these articles, there were others 
made, far more magnificent and costly, for the 
temple itself There was a silver cistern or 
tank, large enough to hold three thousand gal- 
lons of wine. This tank was to be used by the 
inhabitants of Delphi in their great festivals. 
There was also a smaller cistern, or immense 
goblet, as it might, perhaps, more properly be 
called, which was made of gold. There were 
also many other smaller presents, such as basins, 
vases, and statues, all of silver and gold, and 
of the most costly workmanship. The gold, 
too, which had been taken from the fire, was 
cast again, a part of it being formed into the 
image of a lion, and the rest into large plates 
of metal for the lion to stand upon. The image 
was then set up upon the plates, within the pre- 
cincts of the temple. 

There was one piece of statuary which CrcB- 



156 Cyrus the Great. [B.C. 547. 

The bread-maker. Her history. 

sus presented to the oracle at Delphi, which was, 
in some respects, more extraordinary than any 
of the rest. It was called the bread-maker. It 
was an image representing a woman, a servant 
in the household of Croesus, whose business it 
was to bake the bread. The reason that in- 
duced Croesus to honor this bread-maker with 
a statue of gold was, that on one occasion du- 
ring his childhood she had saved his life. The 
mother of Croesus died when he was young, 
and his father married a second time. The 
second wife wished to have some one of her 
children, instead of Croesus, succeed to her hus- 
band's throne. In order, therefore, to remove 
Croesus out of the. way, she prepared some 
poison and gave it to the bread-maker, instruct- 
ing her to put it into the bread which Croesus 
was to eat. The bread-maker received the pois- 
on and promised to obey. But, instead of doing 
so, she revealed the intended murder to Croesus, 
and gave the poison to the queen's own children. 
In gratitude for this fidelity to him, Croesus, 
when he came to the throne, caused this statue 
to be made, and now he placed it at Delphi, 
where he supposed it would forever remain. 
The memory of his faithful servant was indeed 
immortalized by the measure, though the statue 



B.C. 547.] The Oracles. 157 

The oracle questioned. The response. 

itself, as well as all these other treasures, in pro- 
cess of time disappeared. In fact, statues of 
brass or of marble generally make far more du- 
rable monuments than statues of gold ; and no 
structure or object of art is likely to be very per- 
manent among mankind unless the workman- 
ship is worth more than the material. 

Croesus did not proceed himself to Delphi 
with these presents, but sent them by the hands 
of trusty messengers, who were instructed to 
perform the ceremonies required, to offer the 
gifts, and then to make inquiries of the oracle 
in the Allowing terms. 

' • Croesus, the sovereign of Lydia and of va- 
rious other kingdoms, in return for the wisdom 
which has marked your former declarations, 
has sent you these gifts. He now furthermore 
desires to know whether it is safe for him to 
proceed against the Persians, and if so, whether 
it is best for him to seek the assistance of any 
allies." 

The answer was as follows : 

"If CrcESus crosses the Halys, and prosecutes 
a war with Persia, a mighty empire will be over- 
thrown. It will be best for him to form an alli- 
ance with the most powerful states of Greece." 

CrcEsus was extremely pleased with this re- 



158 Cyrus the Great. [B.C. 547. 

Delight of Croesus. Supplementary inquiry. 

sponse. He immediately resolved on under- 
taking the expedition against Cyrus; and to 
express his gratitude for so favorable an answer 
to his questions, he sent to Delphi to inquire 
what was the number of inhabitants in the city, 
and, when the answer was reported to him, he 
sent a present of a sum of money to every one. 
The Delphians, in their turn, conferred special 
privileges and honors upon the Lydians and 
upon Croesus in respect to their oracle, giving 
them the precedence in all future consultations, 
and conferring upon them other marks of dis- 
tinction and honor. 

At the time when Croesus sent his present 
to the inhabitants of Delphi, he took the oppor- 
tunity to address another inquiry to the oracle, 
which was, whether his power would ever de- 
cline. The oracle replied in a couplet of Greek 
verse, similar in its style to the one recorded on 
the previous occasion. 

It was as follows : 

" Whene'er a mule shall mount upon the Median throne, 
Then, and not till then, shall great Croesus fear to lose 
his own." 

This answer pleased the king quite as much 
as the former one had done. The allusion to 
the contingency of a mule's reigning in Media 



B.C. 547.] The Oracles. 159 

Croesus's feeling of security. Nature of the oracles. 

he very naturally regarded as only a rhetorical 
and mystical mode of expressing an utter im- 
possibility. Croesus considered himself and th<~- 
continuance of his power as perfectly secure. 
Pie was fully confirmed in his determination to 
organize his expedition without any delay, and 
to proceed immediately to the proper measures 
for obtaining the Grecian alliance and aid which 
the oracle had recommended. The plans which 
he formed, and the events which resulted, will 
be described in subsequent chapters, 

In respect to these Grecian oracles, it is 
proper here to state, that there has been much 
discussion among scholars on the question how 
they were enabled to maintain, for so long a 
period, so extended a credit among a people as 
intellectual and well informed as the Greeks. 
It was doubtless by means of a variety of con- 
trivances and influences that this end was at- 
tained. There is a natural love of the marvel- 
ous among the humbler classes in ail countries, 
which, leads them to be very ready to believe 
in what is mystic and supernatural ; and they 
accordingly exaggerate and color such real in- 
cidents as occur under any strange or remark- 
able circumstances, and invest any unusual 
phenomena which they witness with a mirac- 



160 Cyrus the Great. [B.C. 547. 

Means by which the credit of the oracles was sustained. 

ulous or supernatural interest. The cave at 
Delphi might really have emitted gases which 
would produce quite striking effects upon those 
who inhaled them ; and how easy it would be 
for those who witnessed these effects to imagine 
that some divine and miraculous powers must 
exist in the aerial current which produced them. 
The priests and priestesses, who inhabited the 
temples in which these oracles were contained, 
had, of course, a strong interest in keeping up 
the belief of their reality in the minds of the 
community ; so were, in fact, all the inhabit- 
ants of the cities which sprung up around them. 
They derived their support from the visitors 
who frequented these places, and they contrived 
various ways for drawing contributions, both 
of money and gifts, from all who came. In 
one case there was a sacred stream near an or- 
acle, where persons, on permission from the 
priests, were allowed to bathe. After the bath- 
ing, they were expected to throw pieces of 
money into the stream. "What afterward, in 
such cases, became of the money, it is not dif- 
ficult to imagine. 

Nor is it necessary to suppose that all these 
priests and priestesses were impostors. Hav- 
ing been trained up from infancy to believe that 



B.C. 547.] The Oracles. 161 

Whether the priests were impostors. Answers of the oracles. 

the inspirations were real, they would continue 
to look upon them as such all their lives. Even 
at the present day we shall all, if we closely 
scrutinize our mental habits, find ourselves con- 
tinuing to take for granted, in our maturer 
years, what we inconsiderately imbibed or were 
erroneously taught in infancy, and that, often, 
in cases where the most obvious dictates of rea- 
son, or even the plain testimony of our senses, 
might show us that our notions are false. The 
priests and priestesses, therefore, who imposed 
on the rest of mankind, may have been as hon- 
estly and as deep in the delusion themselves as 
any of their dupes. 

The answers of the oracles were generally 
vague and indefinite, and susceptible of almost 
any interpretation, according to the result. 
Whenever the event corresponded with the pre- 
diction, or could be made to correspond with it 
by the ingenuity of the commentators, the sto- 
ry of the coincidence would, of course, be every 
where spread abroad, becoming more striking 
and more exact at each repetition. Where 
there was a failure, it would not be direct and 
absolute, on account of the vagueness and in- 
definiteness of the response, and there would 
therefore be no interest felt in hearing or in cir- 
L 



162 Cyrus the Great. [B.C.o47. 

Collusion between the priests and those who consulted the oracle. 

culating the story. The cases, thus, which 
would tend to estabhsh the truth of the oracle, 
would be universally known and remembered, 
while those of a contrary bearing would be 
speedily forgotten. 

There is no doubt, however, that in many 
cases the responses were given in collusion 
with the one who consulted the oracle, for the 
purpose of deceiving others. For example, let 
us suppose that Croesus wished to establish 
strongly the credibility of the Delphic oracle in 
the minds of his countrymen, in order to en- 
courage them to enlist in his armies, and to en- 
gage in the enterprise which he was contem- 
plating against Cyrus with resolution and con- 
fidence ; it would have been easy for him to 
have let the priestess at Delphi know what he 
was doing on the day when he sent to inquire, 
and thus himself to have directed her answer. 
Then, when his messengers returned, he would 
appeal to the answer as proof of the reality of 
the inspiration which seemed to furnish it. Al- 
exander the Great certainly did, in this way, 
act in collusion with the priests at the temple 
of Jupiter Ammon. 

The fact that there have been so many and 



B.C. 547.] The Oracles. 163 

Is there any revelation truly divine ? 

such successful cases of falsehood and impos- 
ture among mankind in respect to revelations 
from Heaven, is no indication, as some super- 
ficially suppose, that no revelation is true, but 
is, on the other hand, strong evidence to the 
contrary. The Author of human existence has 
given no instincts in vain ; and the universal 
tendency of mankind to believe in the supernat- 
ural, to look into an unseen world, to seek, and 
to imagine that they find, revelations from Heav- 
en, and to expect a continuance of existence 
after this earthly life is over, is the strongest 
possible natural evidence that there is an un- 
seen world ; that man may have true commu- 
nications with it ; that a personal deity reigns, 
who approves and disapproves of human con- 
duct, and that there is a future state of being. 
In this point of view, the absurd oracles of 
Greece, and the universal credence which they 
obtained, constitute strong evidence that there 
is somewhere to be found inspiration and proph- 
ecy really divine. 



164 Cyrus the Great. [B.C. 546. 

Reasons which induced Croesus to invado Media. 



Chapter VII. 
The Conquest of Lydia. 

THERE were, in fact, three inducements 
which combined their influence on the mind 
of Croesus, in leading him to cross the Halys, 
and invade the dominions of the Medes and 
Persians : first, he was ambitious to extend his 
own empire ; secondly, he feared that if he did 
not attack Cyrus, Cyrus would himself cross 
the Halys and attack him ; and, thirdly, he felt 
under some obligation to consider himself the 
ally of Astyages, and thus bound to espouse his 
cause, and to aid him in putting down, if possi- 
ble, the usurpation of Cyrus, and in recovering 
his throne. He felt under this obligation be- 
cause Astyages was his brother-in-law ; for the 
latter had married, many years before, a daugh- 
ter of Alyattes, who was the father of Croesus. 
This, as Croesus thought, gave him a just title 
to interfere between the dethroned king and the 
rebel who had dethroned him. Under the in- 
fluence of all these reasons combined, and en- 
couraged by the responses of the oracle, he de- 
termined on attempting the invasion. 



B.C. 546,] Conquest of Lydia. 165 

The Lacedaemonians. Embassadors to Sparta. 

The first measure which he adopted was to 
form an alliance with the most powerful of the 
states of Greece, as he had been directed to do 
by the oracle. After much inquiry and consid- 
eration, he concluded that the Lacedaemonian 
state was the most powerful. Their chief city 
was Sparta, in the Peloponnesus. They were 
a warlike, stern, and indomitable race of men, 
capable of bearing every possible hardship, and 
of enduring every degree of fatigue and toil, and 
they desired nothing but military glory for their 
reward. This was a species of wages which it 
was very easy to pay ; much more easy to fur- 
nish than coin, even for Croesus, notwithstand- 
ing the abundant supplies of gold which he was 
accustomed to obtain from the sands of the Pac- 
tolus. 

Croesus sent embassadors to Sparta to in- 
form the people of the plans which he contem- 
plated, and to ask their aid. He had been in- 
structed, he said, by the oracle at Delphi, to 
seek the alliance of the most powerful of the 
states of Greece, and he accordingly made ap- 
plication to them. They were gratified with 
the compliment implied in selecting them, and 
acceded readily to his proposal. Besides, they 
were already on very friendly terms with Croe- 



166 Cyrus the Great. [B.C. 546. 

Preparations of Crcesus. The counsel of Sardaris. 

sus ; for, some years before, they had sent to 
him to procure some gold for a statue which 
they had occasion to erect, offering to give an 
equivalent for the value of it in such produc- 
tions as their country afforded. Croesus sup- 
plied them with the gold that they needed, but 
generously refused to receive any return. 

In the mean time, Croesus went on, energet- 
ically, at Sardis, making the preparations for 
his campaign. One of his counselors, whose 
name was Sardaris, ventured, one day, strongly 
to dissuade him from undertaking the expedi- 
tion. '• You have nothing to gain by it," said 
he, " if you succeed, and every thing to lose if 
you fail. Consider what sort of people these 
Persians are whom you are going to combat. 
They live in the most rude and simple manner, 
without luxuries, without pleasures, without 
wealth. If you conquer their country, you will 
find nothing in it worth bringing away. On 
the other hand, if they conquer you, they will 
come like a vast band of plunderers into Lydia, 
where there is every thing to tempt and reward 
them. I counsel you to leave them alone, and 
to remain on this side the Halys, thankful if 
Cyrus will be contented to remain on the 
Qther." 



B.C. 546.] Conquest of Lydia. 167 

The array begins to march. Thales the Milesian. 

But Croesus was not in a mood of mind to 
be persuaded by such reasoning. 

When all things were ready, the army com- 
menced its march and moved eastward, through 
one province of Asia Minor after another, un- 
til they reached the Halys. This river is a 
considerable stream, which rises in the inte- 
rior of the country, and flows northward into 
the Euxine Sea. The army encamped on the 
banks of it, and some plan was to be formed 
for crossing the stream. In accomplishing this 
object, Croesus was aided by a very celebrated 
engineer who accompanied his army, named 
Thales. Thales was a native of Miletus, and 
is generally called in history, Thales the Mi- 
lesian. He was a very able mathematician and 
calculator, and many accounts remain of the 
discoveries and performances by which he ac- 
quired his renown. 

For example, in the course of his travels, he 
at one time visited Egypt, and while there, he 
contrived a very simple way of measuring the 
height of the pyramids. He set up a pole on 
the plain in an upright position, and then meas- 
ured the pole and also its shadow. He also 
measured the length of the shadow of the pyr- 
amid. He then calculated the height of the 



168 Cyrus the Great. [B.C. 546. 

Mathematical skill of Thales. His theorems. 

pyramid by this proportion : as the length of 
shadow of the pole is to that of the pole itself, 
so is the length of the shadow of the pyramid 
to its height. 

Thales was an astronomer as well as a phi- 
losopher and engineer. He learned more ex- 
actly the true length of the year than it had 
been known before; and he also made some 
calculations of eclipses, at least so far as to 
predict the year in which they would happen. 
One eclipse which he predicted happened to oc- 
cur on the day of a great battle between two 
contending armies. It was cloudy, so that the 
combatants could not see the sun. This circum- 
stance, however, which concealed the eclipse 
itself, only made the darkness which was caused 
by it the more intense. The armies were much 
terrified at this sudden cessation of the light 
of day, and supposed it to be a warning from 
heaven that they should desist from the combat. 

Thales the Milesian was the author of sev- 
eral of the geometrical theorems and demon- 
strations now included in the Elements of 
Euclid. The celebrated fifth proposition of 
the first book, so famous among all the modern 
nations of Europe as the great stumbling block 
in the way of beginners in the study of geon^- 



B.C. 546.] Conquest or Lydia. 169 

Ingenious plan of Thales for crossing he Halys. 

etry, was his. The discovery of the truth ex- 
pressed in this proposition, and of the compli- 
cated demonstration which estabhshes it, was 
certainly a much greater mathematical per- 
formance than the measuring of the altitude 
of the pyramids by their shadow. 

But to return to Croesus. Thales undertook 
the work of transporting the army across the 
river. He examined the banks, and found, at 
length, a spot where the land was low and level 
for some distance from the stream. He caused 
the army to be brought up to the river at this 
point, and to be encamped there, as near to the 
bank as possible, and in as compact a form. 
He then employed a vast number of laborers 
to cut a new channel for the waters, behind the 
army, leading out from the river above, and re- 
joining it again at a little distance below. 
When this channel was finished, he turned the 
river into its new course, and then the army 
passed without difficulty over the former bed of 
the stream. 

The Halys being thus passed, Croesus moved 
on in the direction of Media. But he soon 
found that he had not far to go to find his en- 
emy. Cyrus had heard of his plans through 
deserters and spies, and he had for some time 



170 Cyrus the Great. [B.C. 546. 

Advance of Cyrus. Preparations for battle. 

been advancing to meet him. One after the 
other of the nations through whose dominions 
he had passed, he had subjected to his sway, 
or, at least, brought under his influence by- 
treaties and alliances, and had received from 
them all re-enforcements to swell the numbers 
of his army. One nation only remained^the 
Babylonians. They were on the side of Croe- 
sus. They were jealous of the growing power 
of the Medes and Persians, and had made a 
league with Croesus, promising to aid him in 
the war. The other nations of the East were 
in alliance with Cyrus, and he was slowly 
moving on, at the head of an immense combined 
force, toward the Halys, at the very time when 
Croesus was crossing the stream. 

The scouts, therefore, that preceded the army 
of Croesus on its march, soon began to fall back 
into the camp, with intelligence that there was 
a large armed force coming on to meet them, 
the advancing columns filling all the roads, and 
threatening to overwhelm them. The scouts 
from the army of Cyrus carried back similar 
intelligence to him. The two armies accord- 
ingly halted and began to prepare for battle. 
The place of their meeting was called Pteria 
It was in the province of Cappadocia, and to- 
ward the paptern pnrt of A sin Mnmr. , 



B.C. 546.] Conquest of Lydia. 171 

Great battle at Pteria. Undecisive result. 

A great battle was fought at Pteria. It was 
continued all day, and remained undecided when 
the sun went down. The combatants separa- 
ted when it became dark, and each withdrew 
from the field. Each king found, it seems, that 
his antagonist was more formidable than he had 
imagined, and on the morning after the battle 
they botk seemed inclined to remain in their 
respective encampments, without evincing any 
disposition to renew the contest. 

Croesus, in fact, seems to have considered 
that he was fortunate in having so far repulsed 
the formidable invasion which Cyrus had been 
intending for him. He considered Cyrus's army 
as repulsed, since they had withdrawn from the 
field, and showed no disposition to return to it. 
He had no doubt that Cyrus would now go back 
to Media again, having found how well prepar- 
ed Croesus had been to receive him. For him- 
self, he concluded that he ought to be satisfied 
with the advantage which he had already gain- 
ed, as the result of one campaign, and return 
again to Sardis to recruit his army, the force 
of which had been considerably impaired by the 
battle, and so postpone the grand invasion till 
the next season. He accordingly set out on his 
return. He dispatched messengers, at the same 



172 Cyrus the Great. [B.C. 546. 

Croesus returns to Sardis. Cyrus follows Mm. 

time, to Babylon, to Sparta, to Egypt, and to 
other countries with which he was in alliance, 
informing these various nations of the great 
battle of Pteria and its results, and asking them 
to send him, early in the following spring, all 
the re-enforcements that they could command, 
to join him in the grand campaign which he 
was going to make the next season. 

He continued his march homeward without 
any interruption, sending off, from time to time, 
as he was moving through his own dominions, 
such portions of his troops as desired to return 
to their homes, enjoining upon them to come 
back to him in the spring. By this temporary 
disbanding of a portion of his army, he saved 
the expense of maintaining them through the 
winter. 

Very soon after Croesus arrived at Sardis, 
the whole country in the neighborhood of the 
capital was thrown into a state of universal 
alarm by the news that Cyrus was close at 
hand. It seems that Cyrus had remained in 
the vicinity of Pteria long enough to allow 
Croesus to return, and to give him time to dis- 
miss his troops and establish himself securely 
in the city. He then suddenly resumed his 
march, and came on toward Sardis with the 



B.C. 546.] Conquest of Lydia. 173 

Confusion and alaim at Sardis. The Lydian cavalry. 

utmost possible dispatch. Croesus, in fact, had 
no announcement of his approach until he heard 
of his arrival. 

All was now confusion and alarm, both with- 
in and without the city. Croesus hastily col- 
lected all the forces that he could command. 
He sent immediately to the neighboring cities, 
summoning all the troops in them to hasten to 
the capital. He enrolled all the inhabitants of 
the city that were capable of bearing arms. 
By these means he collected, in a very short 
time, quite a formidable force, wliich he drew 
up, in battle array, on a great plain not far 
from the city, and there waited, with much 
anxiety and solicitude, for Cyrus to come on. 

The Lydian army was superior to that of 
Cyrus in cavalry, and as the place where the 
battle was to be fought was a plain, which was 
the kind of ground most favorable for the op- 
erations of that species of force, Cyrus felt some 
solicitude in respect to the impression which 
might be made by it on his army. Nothing is 
more terrible than the onset of a squadron of 
horse when charging an enemy upon the field of 
battle. They come in vast bodies, sometimes 
consisting of many thousands, with the speed 
of the wind, the men flourishing their sabers, 



174 Cyrus the Great. [B.C.546. 

Nature of cavalry. Manner of receiving a cavalry charge. 

and rending the air with the most unearthly 
cries, those in advance being driven irresistibly 
on by the weight and impetus of the masses be- 
hind. The dreadful torrent bears down and 
overwhelms every thing that attempts to re- 
sist its way. They trample one another and 
their enemies together promiscuously in the 
dust ; the foremost of the column press on with 
the utmost fury, afraid quite as much of the 
headlong torrent of friends coming on behind 
them, as of the line of fixed and motionless 
enemies who stand ready to receive them be- 
fore. These enemies, stationed to withstand 
the charge, arrange themselves in triple or 
quadruple rows, with the shafts of their spears 
planted against the ground, and the points di- 
rected forward and upward to receive the ad- 
vancing horsemen. These spears transfix and 
kill the foremost horses ; but those that come 
on behind, leaping and plunging over their fallen 
companions, soon break through the lines and 
put their enemies to flight, in a scene of inde- 
scribable havoc and confasion. 

Croesus had large bodies of horse, while Cy- 
rus had no efficient troops to oppose them. He 
had a great number of camels in the rear of 
his army, which had been employed as beasts 



B.C. 546.] Conquest of Lydia. 175 

The camels. Cyrus opposes them to the cavalry. 

of burden to transport the baggage and stores 
of the army on their march. Cyrus concluded 
to make the experiment of opposing these camels 
to the cavalry. It is frequently said by the 
ancient historians that the horse has a natural 
antipathy to the camel, and can not bear either 
the smell or the sight of one, though this is not 
found to be the case at the present day. How- 
ever the fact might have been in this respect, 
Cyrus determined to arrange the camels in his 
front as he advanced into battle. He accord- 
ingly ordered the baggage to be removed, and, 
releasing their ordinary drivers from the charge 
of them, he assigned each one to the care of a 
soldier, who was to mount him, armed with a 
spear. Even if the supposed antipathy of the 
horse for the camel did not take effect, Cyrus 
thought that their large and heavy bodies, de- 
fended by the spears of their riders, would afford 
the most effectual means of resistance against 
the shock of the Lydian squadrons that he 
was now able to command. 

The battle commenced, and the squadrons 
of horse came on. But, as soon as they came 
near the camels, it happened that, either from 
the influence of the antipathy above referred to, 
or from alarm at the novelty of the spectacle 



176 Cyrus the Great. [B.C. 546. 

The battle fought. Cyrus victorious. 

of such huge and misshapen beasts, or else be- 
cause of the substantial resistance which the 
camels and the spears of their riders made to 
the shock of their charge, the horses were soon 
thrown into confusion and put to flight. In 
fact, a general panic seized them, and they be- 
came totally unmanageable. Some threw their 
riders; others, seized with a sort of phrensy, 
became entirely independent of control. They 
turned, and trampled the foot soldiers of their 
own army under foot, and threw the whole 
body into disorder. The consequence was, that 
the army of Croesus was wholly defeated ; they 
fled in confusion, and crowded in vast throngs 
through the gates into the city, and fortified 
themselves there. 

Cyrus advanced to the city, invested it closely 
on all sides, and commenced a siege. But the 
appearances were not very encouraging. The 
walls were lofty, thick, and strong, and the 
numbers within the city were amply sufficient 
to guard them. Nor was the prospect much 
more promising of being soon able to reduce 
the city by famine. The wealth of Croesus had 
enabled him to lay up almost inexhaustible 
stores of food and clothing, as well as treasures 
of silver and gold. He hoped, therefore, to be 



B.C. 546.] Conquest of Lydia. 177 

Situation of Sardis. Its walls. An ancient legend. 

able to hold out against the besiegers until 
help should come from some of his allies. He 
had sent messengers to them, asking them to 
come to his rescue without any delay, before 
he was shut up in the city. 

The city of Sardis was built in a position 
naturally strong, and one part of the wall pass- 
ed over rocky precipices which were considered 
entirely impassable. There was a sort of glen 
or rocky gorge in this quarter, outside of the 
walls, down which dead bodies were thrown on 
one occasion subsequently, at a time when the 
city was besieged, and beasts and birds of prey 
fed upon them there undisturbed, so lonely was 
the place and so desolate. In fact, the walls 
that crowned these precipices were considered 
absolutely inaccessible, and were very slightly 
built and very feebly guarded. There was an 
ancient legend that, a long time before, when a 
certain Males was king of Lydia, one of his 
wives had a son in the form of a lion, whom 
they called Leon, and an oracle declared that 
if this Leon were carried around the walls of 
the city, it would be rendered impregnable, and 
should never be taken. They carried Leon, 
therefore, around, so far as the regular walls 
extended. When they came to this precipice 
M 



178 Cyrus the Great. [B.C. 546. 

Cyrus besieges the city. The reconnoisaance. 

of rocks, they returned, considering that this 
part of the city was impregnable without any 
such ceremony. A spur or eminence from the 
mountain of Tmolus, which was behind the 
city, projected into it at this point, and there 
was a strong citadel built upon its summit. 

Cyrus continued the siege fourteen days, and 
then he determined that he must, in some way 
or other, find the means of carrying it by as- 
sault, and to do this he must find some place 
to scale the walls. He accordingly sent a party 
of horsemen around to explore every part, offer- 
ing them a large reward if they would find any 
place where an entrance could be effected. The 
horsemen made the circuit, and reported that 
their search had been in vain. At length a cer- 
tain soldier, named Hyrseades, after studying 
for some time the precipices on the side which 
had been deemed inaccessible, saw a sentinel, 
who was stationed on the walls above, leave his 
post and come climbing down the rooks for 
some distance to get his helmet, which had ac- 
cidentally dropped down. Hyrseades watched 
him both as he descended and as he returned. 
He reflected on this discovery, communicated 
it to others, and the practicability of scaling the 
rock and the walls at that point was discussed. 



B.C.546.] Conquest op Lydia. 181 

The walls scaled. Storming of the city. 

In the end, the attempt was made and was suc- 
cessful. Hyrseades went up first, followed by 
a few daring spirits who were ambitious of the 
glory of the exploit. They were not at first 
observed from above. The way being thus 
shown, great numbers followed on, and so large 
a force succeeded in thus gaining an entrance 
that the city was taken. 

In the dreadful confusion and din of the 
storming of the city, Croesus himself had a very 
narrow escape from death. He was saved by 
the miraculous speaking of his deaf and dumb 
son — at least such is the story. Cyrus had 
given positive orders to his soldiers, both before 
the great battle on the plain and during the 
siege, that, though they might slay whomever 
else they pleased, they must not harm Croesus, 
but must take him alive. During the time of 
the storming of the town, when the streets were 
filled with infuriated soldiers, those on the one 
side wild with the excitement of triumph, and 
those on the other maddened with rage and de- 
spair, a party, rushing along, overtook Croesus 
and his helpless son, whom the unhappy father, 
it seems, was making a desperate effort to save. 
The Persian soldiers were about to transfix 
Croesus with their spears, when the son, who 



182 Cyrus the Great. [B.C. 546. 

CrcBsus made prisoner. The funeral pile. 

had never spoken before, called out, ''It is Croe- 
sus ; do not kill him." The soldiers were ar- 
rested by the words, and saved the monarch's 
life. They made him prisoner, and bore him 
away to Cyrus. 

Croesus had sent, a long time before, to in- 
quire of the Delphic oracle by what means the 
power of speech could be restored to his son. 
The answer was, that that was a boon which he 
had better not ask ; for the day on which he 
should hear his son speak for the first time, 
would be the darkest and most unhappy day of 
his life. 

Cyrus had not ordered his soldiers to spare 
the life of Croesus in battle from any sentiment 
of humanity toward him, but because he wish- 
ed to have his case reserved for his own deci- 
sion. When Croesus was brought to him a 
captive, he ordered him to be put in chains, and 
carefully guarded. As soon as some degree of 
order was restored in the city, a large funeral 
pile was erected, by his directions, in a public 
square, and Croesus was brought to the spot. 
Fourteen Lydian young men, the sons, proba- 
bly, of the most prominent men in the state, 
were with him. The pile was large enough 
for them all, and they were placed upon it. 



B.C.546.] Conquest of Lydia. 183 

Anguish and deepaii" of Croesus. The saying of Solon. 

They were all laid upon the wood. Croesus 
raised himself and looked around, surveying 
with extreme consternation and horror the prep- 
arations which were making for lighting the 
pile. His heart sank within him as he thought 
of the dreadful fate that was before him. The 
spectators stood by in solemn silence, awaiting 
the end. Croesus broke this awful pause by 
crying out, in a tone of anguish and despair, 

" Oh Solon ! Solon ! Solon !" 

The officers who had charge of the execution 
asked him what he meant. Cyrus, too, who was 
himself personally superintending the scene, 
asked for an explanation. Croesus was, for a 
time, too much agitated and distracted to re- 
ply. There were difficulties in respect to lan- 
guage, too, which embarrassed the conversation, 
as the two kings could speak to each other only 
through an interpreter. At length Croesus gave 
an account of his interview with Solon, and of 
the sentiment which the philosopher had ex- 
pressed, that no one could decide whether a 
man was truly prosperous and happy till it was 
determined how his life was to end. Cyrus 
was greatly interested in this narrative ; but, in 
the mean time, the interpreting of the conver- 
sation had been slow, a considerable period had 



184 Cyrus the Great. [B.C.546. 

Croesus is saved. He becomes Cyrus's friend. 

elapsed, and the officers had lighted the fire. 
The pile had been made extremely combustible, 
and the fire was rapidly making its way through 
the whole mass. Cyrus eagerly ordered it to 
be extinguished. The efforts which the sol- 
diers made for this purpose seemed, at first, 
likely to be fruitless ; but they were aided very 
soon by a sudden shower of rain, which, com- 
ing down from the mountains, began, just at 
this time, to fall ; and thus the flames were ex- 
tinguished, and Croesus and the captives saved. 

Cyrus immediately, with a fickleness very 
common among great monarchs in the treat- 
ment of both enemies and favorites, began to 
consider Croesus as his friend. He ordered him 
to be unbound, brought him near his person, 
and treated him with great consideration and 
honor. 

Croesus remained after this for a long time 
with Cyrus, and accompanied him in his sub- 
sequent campaigns. He was very much in- 
censed at the oracle at Delphi for having de- 
ceived him by its false responses and predic- 
tions, and thus led him into the terrible snare 
into which he had fallen. He procured the fet- 
ters with which he had been chained when 
placed upon the pile, and sent them to Delphi, 



B.C. 546.] Conquest of Lydia. 185 

Croesus sends his fetters to the oracle at Delphi. 

with orders that they should be thrown down 
upon the threshold of the temple — the visible 
symbol of his captivity and ruin — as a reproach 
to the oracle for having deluded him and caus- 
ed his destruction. In doing this, the messen- 
gers were to ask the oracle whether imposition 
like that which had been practiced on Croesus 
was the kind of gratitude it evinced to one who 
had enriched it by such a profusion of offerings 
and gifts. 

To this the priests of the oracle said in reply, 
that the destruction of the Lydian dynasty had 
long been decreed by the Fates, in retribution 
for the guilt of Gyges, the founder of the line. 
He had murdered his master, and usurped the 
throne, without any title to it whatever. The 
judgments of Heaven had been denounced upon 
Gyges for this crime, to fall on himself or on 
some of his descendants. The Pythian Apollo 
at Delphi had done all in his power to postpone 
the falling of the blow until after the death of 
Croesus, on account of the munificent benefac- 
tions which he had made to the oracle ; but he 
had been unable to effect it : the decrees of Fate 
were inexorable. All that the oracle could do 
was to postpone — as it had done, it said, for 
three years — the execution of the sentence, and 



186 Cyrus the Great. [B.C.546. 

Explanations of the priests. Theii* adroitness and dexterity. 

to give Croesus warning of the evil that was 
impending. This had been done by announc- 
ing to him that his crossing the Halys would 
cause the destruction of a mighty empire, 
meaning that of Lydia, and also by informing 
him that when he should find a mule upon the 
throne of Media he must expect to lose his own. 
Cyrusj who was descended, on the father's side, 
from the Persian stock, and on the mother's 
from that of Media, was the hybrid sovereign 
represented by the mule. 

When this answer was reported to Croesus, 
it is said that he was satisfied with the expla- 
nations, and admitted that the oracle was right, 
and that he himself had been unreasonable and 
wrong. However this may be, it is certain 
that, among mankind at large, since Croesus's 
day, there has been a great disposition to over- 
look whatever of criminality there may have 
been in the falsehood and imposture of the ora- 
cle, through admiration of the adroitness and 
dexterity which its ministers evinced in saving 
themselves from exposure. 



B.C. 544.] Conquest of 13abylon. 187 

Babylon. The River Euphrates. Canals. 



Chapter VIII. 
The Conquest of Babylon. 

IN his advance toward the dominions of Croe- 
sus in Asia Minor, Cyrus had passed to the 
northward of the great and celebrated city of 
Babylon. Babylon was on the Euphrates, to- 
ward the southern part of Asia. It was the 
capital of a large and very fertile region, which 
extended on both sides of the Euphrates toward 
the Persian Gulf. The limits of the country, 
however, which was subject to Babylon, varied 
very much at different times, as they were ex- 
tended or contracted by revolutions and wars. 

The River Euphrates was the great source 
of fertility for the whole region through which 
it flowed. The country watered by this river 
was very densely populated, and the inhabit- 
ants were industrious and peaceable, cultivating 
their land, and living quietly and happily on its 
fruits. The surface was intersected with ca- 
nals, which the people had made for conveying 
the water of the river over the land for the pur- 
pose of irrigating it. Some of these canals were 



188 Cyrus the Great. [B.C. 544. 

Curious boate. Their mode of construction. 

navigable. There was one great trunk which 
passed from the Euphrates to the Tigris, sup- 
plying many minor canals by the way, that was 
navigable for vessels of considerable burden. 

The traffic of the country was, however, 
mainly conducted by means of boats of mod- 
erate size, the construction of which seemed to 
Herodotus very curious and remarkable. The 
city was enormously large, and required im- 
mense supplies of food, which were brought 
down in these boats from the agricultural coun- 
try above. The boats were made in the follow- 
ing manner : first a frame was built, of the 
shape of the intended boat, broad and shallow, 
and with the stem and stern of the same form. 
This frame was made of willows, like a basket, 
and, when finished, was covered with a sheath- 
ing of skins. A layer of reeds was then spread 
over the bottom of the boat to protect the frame, 
and to distribute evenly the pressure of the 
cargo. The boat, thus finished, was laden with 
the produce of the country, and was then floated 
down the river to Babylon. In this navigation, 
the boatmen were careful to protect the leather 
sheathing from injury by avoiding all contact 
with rocks, or even with the gravel of the shores. 
They kept their craft in the middle of the stream 



B.C. 544.] Conquest of Babylon. 189 

Primitive navigation. Return of the boatmen. 

by means of two oars, or, rather, an oar and a 
paddle, which were worked, the first at the bows, 
and the second at the stern. The advance of 
the boat was in some measure accelerated by 
these boatmen, though their main function was 
to steer their vessel by keeping it out of eddies 
and away from projecting points of land, and di- 
recting its course to those parts of the stream 
where the current was swiftest, and where it 
would consequently be borne forward most rap- 
idly to its destination. 

These boats were generally of very consid- 
erable size, and they carried, in addition to 
their cargo and crew, one or more beasts of 
burden — generally asses or mules. These ani- 
mals were allowed the pleasure, if any pleasure 
it was to them, of sailing thus idly down the 
stream, for the sake of having them at hand at 
the end of the voyage, to carry back again, up 
the country, the skins, which constituted the 
most valuable portion of the craft they sailed 
in. It was found that these skins, if carefully 
preserved, could be easily transported up the 
river, and would answer the purpose of a sec- 
ond voyage. Accordingly, when the boats ar- 
rived at Babylon, the cargo was sold, the boats 
were broken up, the skins were folded into 



190 Cyrus the Great. [B.C. 544. 

Extent of Babylon. Parks, gardens, palaces, etc. 

packs, and in this form the mules carried them 
up the river again, the boatmen driving the 
mules as they walked by their side. 

Babylon was a city of immense extent and 
magnitude. In fact, the accounts given of the 
space which it covered have often been con- 
sidered incredible. These accounts make the 
space which was included within the walls four 
or five times as large as London. A great deal 
of this space was, however, occupied by parks 
and gardens connected with the royal palaces, 
and by open squares. Then, besides, the houses 
occupied by the common people in the ancient 
cities were of fewer stories in height, and con- 
sequently more extended on the ground, than 
those built in modern times. In fact, it is prob- 
able that, in many instances, they were mere 
ranges of huts and hovels, as is the case, in- 
deed, to a considerable extent, in Oriental cities, 
at the present day, so that it is not at all impos- 
sible that even so large an area as four or five 
times the size of London may have been includ- 
ed within the fortifications of the city. 

In respect to the walls of the city, very ex- 
traordinary and apparently contradictory ac- 
counts are given by the various ancient authors 
who described them. Some make them seven- 



B.C. 544.] Conquest of Babylon. 191 

The walls of Babylon. Marvelous accounts. 

ty-five, and others two or three hundred feet 
high. There have been many discussions in 
respect to the comparative credibility of these 
several statements, and some ingenious at- 
tempts have been made to reconcile them. It 
is not, however, at all surprising that there 
should be such a diversity in the dimensions 
given, for the walling of an ancient city was 
seldom of the same height in all places. The 
structure necessarily varied according to the 
nature of the ground, being high wherever the 
ground without was such as to give the enemy 
an advantage in an attack, and lower in other 
situations, where the conformation of the sur- 
face was such as to afford, of itself, a partial 
protection. It is not, perhaps, impossible that, 
at some particular points — as, for example, 
across glens and ravines, or along steep decliv- 
ities — the walls of Babylon may have been rais- 
ed even to the very extraordinary height which 
Herodotus ascribes to them. 

The walls were made of bricks, and the 
bricks were formed of clay and earth, which was 
dug from a trench made outside of the lines. 
This trench served the purpose of a ditch, to 
strengthen the fortification when the wall was 
completed. The water from the river, and 



192 Cyrus the Great. [B.C. 544. 

The ditches. Streets and gates. 

from streams flowing toward the river, was ad- 
mitted to these ditches on every side, and kept 
them always full. 

The sides of these ditches were lined with 
bricks too, which were made, like those of the 
walls, from the earth obtained from the exca- 
vations. They used for all this masonry a ce- 
ment made from a species of bitumen, which 
was found in great quantities floating down one 
of the rivers which flowed into the Euphrates, 
in the neighborhood of Babylon. 

The River Euphrates itself flowed through 
the city. There was a breast- work or low wall 
along the banks of it on either side, with open- 
ings at the terminations of the streets leading 
to the water, and flights of steps to go down. 
These openings were secured by gates of brass, 
which, when closed, would prevent an enemy 
from gaining access to the city from the river. 
The great streets, which terminated thus at the 
river on one side, extended to the walls of the 
city on the other, and they were crossed by other 
streets at right angles to them. In the outer 
walls of the city, at the extremities of all these 
streets, were massive gates of brass, with hinges 
and frames of the same metal. There were a 
hundred of these gates in all. They wero 



B.C. 544.] Conquest of Babylon. 193 

Palace of the king. Temple of Belua. 

guarded by watch-towers on the walls above. 
The watch-towers were built on both the inner 
and outer faces of the wall, and the wall itself 
was so broad that there was room between these 
watch-towers for a chariot and four to drive 
and turn. 

The river, of course, divided the city into two 
parts. The king's palace was in the center of 
one of these divisions, within a vast circular in- 
closure, which contained the palace buildings, 
together with the spacious courts, and parks, 
and gardens pertaining to them. In the center 
of the other division was a corresponding inclos- 
ure, which contained the great temple of Belus. 
Here there was a very lofty tower, divided into 
eight separate towers, one above another, with 
a winding staircase to ascend to the summit. 
In the upper story was a sort of chapel, with a 
couch, and a table, and other furniture for use 
in the sacred ceremonies, all of gold. Above 
this, on the highest platform of all, was a grand 
observatory, where the Babylonian astrologers 
made their celestial observations. 

There was a bridge across the river, connect- 
ing one section of the city with the other, and 
it is said that there was a subterranean passage 
under the river also, which was used as a pri- 
N 



194 Cyrus the Great. [B.C. 544. 

The bridge. Sculptures. The hanging gardens, 

vate communication between two public edi- 
fices — palaces or citadels — which, were situated 
near the extremities of the bridge. All these 
constructions were of the most grand and im- 
posing character. In addition to the architect- 
ural magnificence of the buildings, the gates 
and walls were embellished with a great vari- 
ety of sculptures : images of animals, of every 
form and in every attitude ; and men, single 
and in groups, models of great sovereigns, and 
representations of hunting scenes, battle scenes, 
and great events in the Babylonian history. 

The most remarkable, however, of all the 
wonders of Babylon — though perhaps not built 
till after Cyrus's time — were what were called 
the hanging gardens. Although called the 
hanging gardens, they were not suspended in 
any manner, as the name might denote, but 
were supported upon arches and walls. The 
arches and walls sustained a succession of ter- 
races, rising one above another, with broad 
flights of steps for ascending to them, and on 
these terraces the gardens were made. The 
upper terrace, or platform, was several hundred 
feet from the ground ; so high, that it was nec- 
essary to build arches upon arches within, in 
order to attain the requisite elevation. The 



B.C. 544.] Conquest of Babylon. 195 

Construction of the gai'dens. The platform and terraces. 

lateral thrust of these arches was sustained by 
a wall twenty-five feet in thickness, which sur- 
rounded the garden on all sides, and rose as 
high as the lowermost tier of arches, upon which 
would, of course, be concentrated the pressure 
and weight of all the pile. The whole struc- 
ture thus formed a sort of artificial hill, square 
in form, and rising, in a succession of terraces, 
to a broad and level area upon the top. The 
extent of this grand square upon the summit 
was four hundred feet upon each side. 

The surface which served as the foundation 
for the gardens that adorned these successive 
terraces and the area above was formed in the 
following manner : Over the masonry of the 
arches there was laid a pavement of broad flat 
stones, sixteen feet long and four feet wide. 
Over these there was placed a stratum of reeds, 
laid in bitumen, and above them another floor- 
ing of bricks, cemented closely together, so as 
to be impervious to water. To make the secu- 
rity complete in this respect, the upper surface 
of this brick flooring was covered with sheets 
of lead, overlapping each other in such a man- 
ner as to convey all the water which might per- 
colate through the mold away to the sides of 
the garden. The earth and mold were placed. 



196 Cyrus the Great. [B.C. 544. 

Engine for raising water. Floral beauties. 

upon this surface, thus prepared, and the stra- 
tum was so deep as to allow large trees to take' 
root and grow in it. There was an engine con- 
structed in the middle of the upper terrace, by 
which water could be drawn up from the river, 
and distributed over every part of the vast pile. 

The gardens, thus completed, were filled t& 
profusion with every species of tree, and plant, 
and vine, which could produce fruit or flowerg' 
to enrich or adorn such a scene. Every coun- 
try in communication with Babylon was made 
to contribute something to increase the endless 
variety of floral beauty which was here literally 
enthroned. Gardeners of great experience and 
skill were constantly employed in cultivating' 
the parterres, pruning the fruit-trees and the 
vines, preserving the walks, and introducing 
new varieties of vegetation. In a word, the 
hanging gardens of Babylon became one of the 
wonders of the world. 

The country in the neighborhood of Babylon, 
extending from the river on either hand, was 
in general level and low, and subject to inun- 
dations. One of the sovereigns of the country, 
a queen named Nitocris, had formed the grand 
design of constructing an immense lake, to take 
off the superfluous water in case of a flood, and 



B.C.044.] Conquest of Babylon. 197 

The works of Nitocris. Her canals and levees. 

thus prevent an overflow. She also opened a 
^reat number of lateral and winding channels 
for the river, wherever the natural disposition 
,of the surface afforded facilities for doing so, 
and the earth which was taken out in the 
.course of these excavations was employed in 
^raising the banks by artificial terraces, such as 
are made to confine the Mississippi at New Or- 
leans, and are there called levees.^ The object 
pf Nicotris in these m^easures was two-fold. She 
wished, in the first place, to open all practica- 
ble channels for the flow of the water, and then 
to confine the current within the channels thus 
made. She also wished to make the naviga- 
tion of the stream as intricate and complicated 
as possible, so that, while the natives of the 
country might easily find their way, in boats, 
,to the capital, a foreign enemy, if he should 
gnake the attempt, might be confused and lost. 
These were the rivers of Babylon on the banks 
of which the captive Jews sat down and wept 
whesn they remembered Zion. 

This queen Nitocris seems to have been quite 
distinguished for her engineering and architect- 
iural plans. It was she that built the bridge 
across the Euphrates, within the city ; and as 

* From the French word levie, raised. 



198 Cyrus the Great. [B.C. 544. 

The bridge over the Euphrates. The tomb of the queen. 

there was a feeling of jealousy and ill will, as 
usual in such a case, between the two divisions 
of the town which the river formed, she caused 
the bridge to be constructed with a movable 
platform or draw, by means of which the com- 
munication might be cut ojff at pleasure. This 
draw was generally up at night and down by 
day. 

Herodotus relates a curious anecdote of this 
queen, which, if true, evinces in another way 
the peculiar originality of mind and the inge- 
nuity which characterized all her operations. 
She caused her tomb to be built, before her 
death, over one of the principal gates of the 
city. Upon the fa9ade of this monument was 
a very conspicuous inscription to this effect: 
" If any one of the sovereigns, my successors, 
shall be in extreme want of money, let him 
open my tomb and take what he may think 
proper ; but let him not resort to this resource 
unless the urgency is extreme." 

The tomb remained for some time after the 
queen's death quite undisturbed. In fact, the 
people of the city avoided this gate altogether, 
on account of the dead body deposited above it, 
and the spot became well-nigh deserted. At 
length, in process of time, a subsequent sover- 



B.C. 544.] Conquest of Babylon. 199 

Cyrus plans an attack upon Babylon. Government of Lydia. 

eign, being in want of money, ventured to open 
the tomb. He found, however, no money with- 
in. The gloomy vault contained nothing but 
the dead body of the queen, and a label with 
this inscription : "If your avarice were not as 
insatiable as it is base, you would not have in- 
truded on the repose of the dead." 

It was not surprising that Cyrus, having 
been so successful in his enterprises thus far, 
should now begin to turn his thoughts toward 
this great Babylonian empire, and to feel a de- 
sire to bring it under, his sway. The first thing, 
however, was to confirm and secure his Lydian 
conquests. He spent some time, therefore, in 
organizing and arranging, at Sardis, the affairs 
of the new government which he was to substi- 
tute for that of Croesus there. He designated 
certain portions of his army to be left for gar- 
risons in the conquered cities. He appointed 
Persian officers, of course, to command these 
forces ; but, as he wished to conciliate the Lyd- 
ians, he appointed many of the municipal and 
civil officers of the country from among them. 
There would appear to be no danger in doing 
this, as, by giving the command of the army to 
Persians, he retained all the real power directly 
in his own hands. 



200 Cyrus the Great. [B.C. 544. 

Cyrufl returns eastward. Revolt of the Lydiana. 

One of these civil officers, the most import- 
ant, in fact, of all, was the grand treasurer. 
To him Cyrus committed the charge of the 
stores of gold and silver which came into his 
possession at Sardis, and of the revenues which 
were afterward to accrue. Cyrus appointed a 
Lydian named Pactyas to this trust, hoping 
by such measures to conciliate the people of 
the country, and to make them more ready to 
submit to his sway. Things being thus ar- 
ranged, Cyrus, taking Croesus with him, set 
out with the main army to return toward the 
East. 

As soon as he had left Lydia, Pactyas ex- 
cited the Lydians to revolt. The name of the 
commander-in-chief of the military forces which 
Cyrus had left was Tabalus. Pactyas aban- 
doned the city and retired toward the coast, 
where he contrived to raise a large army, 
formed partly of Lydians and partly of bodies 
of foreign troops, which he was enabled to hire 
by means of the treasures which Cyrus had put 
under his charge. He then advanced to Sardis, 
took possession of the town, and shut up Taba- 
lus, with his Persian troops, in the citadel. 

When the tidings of these events came to 
Cyrus, he was very much incensed, and de- 



B.C. 544.] Conquest of Babylon. 201 

Detachment of JIazares. Flight of Pactyas. 

termined to destroy the city. Croesus, how- 
ever, interceded very earnestly in its behalf. 
He recommended that Cyrus, instead of burn- 
ing Sardis, should send a sufficient force to dis- 
arm the population, and that be should then 
€nact such laws and make such arrangements 
as should turn the minds of the people to habits 
of luxury and pleasure. ''By doing this," said 
Croesus, ''the people will, in a short time, be- 
come so enervated and so effeminate that you 
will have nothing to fear from them." 

Cyrus decided on adopting this plan. He 
dispatched a Median named Mazares, an offi- 
cer of his army, at the head of a strong force, 
with orders to go back to Sardis, to deliver Ta- 
balus from his danger, to seize and put to death 
all the leaders in the Lydian rebellion excepting 
Pactyas. Pactyas was to be saved alive, and 
sent a prisoner to Cyrus in Persia. 

Pactyas did not wait for the arrival of Ma- 
zares. As soon as he heard of his approach, he 
abandoned the ground, and fled northwardly to 
the city of Cyme, and sought refuge there. 
When Mazares had reached Sardis and re- 
estabUshed the government of Cyrus there, he 
sent messengers to Cyme, demanding the sur- 
render of the fugitive. 



202 Cyrus the Great. [B.C. 544. 

Pacfyas at Cyme. The people consult the oracle. 

The people of Cyme were uncertain whether 
they ought to comply. They said that they 
must first consult an oracle. There was a 
very ancient and celebrated oracle near Mile- 
tus. They sent messengers to this oracle, de- 
manding to know whether it were according to 
the will of the gods or not that the fugitive 
should be surrendered. The answer brought 
back was, that they might surrender him. 

They were accordingly making arrangements 
for doing this, when one of the citizens, a very 
prominent and influential man, named Aristod- 
icus, expressed himself not satisfied with the 
reply. He did not think it possible, he said, 
that the oracle could really counsel them to de- 
liver up a helpless fugitive to his enemies. The 
messengers must have misunderstood or misre- 
ported the answer which they had received. He 
finally persuaded his countrymen to send a sec- 
ond embassy: he himself was placed at the 
head of it. On their arrival, Aristodicus ad- 
dressed the oracle as follows : 

''To avoid a cruel death from the Persians, 
Pactyas, a Lydian, fled to us for refuge. The 
Persians demanded that we should surrender 
him. Much as we are afraid of their power, 
we are still more afraid to deliver up a helpless 



B.C. 544.] Conquest of Babylon. 203 

Reply of the oracle. Aristodicus and the birds' nests. 

suppliant for protection without clear and de- 
cided directions from you." 

The embassy received to this demand the 
same reply as before. 

Still Aristodicus was not satisfied ; and, as 
if by way of bringing home to the oracle some- 
what more forcibly a sense of the true charac- 
ter of such an action as it seemed to recom- 
mend, he began to make a circuit in the grove 
which was around the temple in which the or- 
acle resided, and to rob and destroy the nests 
which the birds had built there, allured, ap- 
parently, by the sax3red repose and quietude of 
the scene. This had the desired effect. A sol- 
emn voice was heard from the interior of the 
temple, saying, in a warning tone, 

" Impious man ! how dost thou dare to mo- 
lest those who have placed themselves under 
my protection ?" 

To this Aristodicus replied by asking the or- 
acle how it was that it watched over and guard- 
ed those who sought its own protection, while 
it directed the people of Cyme to abandon and 
betray suppliants for theirs. To this the oracle 
answered, 

"I direct them to do it, in order that such 
impious men may the sooner bring down upon 



204 Cyrus THE Great. [B.C. 538. 

Capture of Pactyas. Situation of Belshazzar. 

their heads the judgments of heaven for having 
dared to entertain even the thought of deliver- 
ing up a helpless fugitive." 

When this answer was reported to the people 
of Cyme, they did not dare to give Pactyas up, 
nor, on the other hand, did they dare to incur 
the enmity of the Persians by retaining and 
protecting him. They accordingly sent him 
secretly away. The emissaries of Mazares, 
however, followed him. They kept constantly 
on his track, demanding him successively of 
every city where the hapless fugitive sought 
refuge, until, at length, partly by threats and 
partly by a reward, they induced a certain city 
to surrender him. Mazares sent him, a pris- 
oner, to Cyrus. Soon after this Mazares him- 
self died, and Harpagus was appointed governor 
of Lydia in his stead. 

In the mean time, Cyrus went on with his 
conquests in the heart of Asia, and at length, 
in the course of a few years, he had completed 
his arrangements and preparations for the at- 
tack on Babylon. He advanced at the he?id 
of a large force to the vicinity of the city. 
The King of Babylon, whose name was Bel- 
shazzar, withdrew within the walls, shut the 
gates, and felt perfectly secure. A simple wall 



B.C. 538.] Conquest of Babylon. 205 

Belshazzar's feeling of security. Approach of Cyrua. 

was in those days a very effectual protection 
against any armed force whatever, if it was only 
high enough not to be scaled, and thick enough 
to resist the blows of a battering ram. The 
artillery of modern times would have speedily 
made a fatal breach in such structures; but 
there was nothing but the simple force of man, 
applied through brazen-headed beams of wood, 
in those days, and Belshazzar knew well that 
his walls would bid all such modes of demoli- 
tion a complete defiance. He stationed his 
soldiers, therefore, on the walls, and his senti- 
nels in the watch towers, while he himself, and 
all the nobles of his court, feeling perfectly se- 
cure in their impregnable condition, and being 
abundantly supplied with all the means that 
the whole empire could furnish, both for suste- 
nance and enjoyment, gave themselves up, in 
their spacious palaces and gardens, to gayety, 
festivity, and pleasure. 

Cyrus advanced to the city. He stationed 
one large detachment of his troops at the open- 
ing in the main walls where the river entered 
into the city, and another one below, where it 
issued from it. These detachments were order- 
ed to march into the city by the bed of the riv- 
er, as soon as they should observe the water 



206 Cyrus the Great. [B.C.538. 

Cyrus draws oflf the water from the river. The city captured. 

subsiding. He then employed a vast force of 
laborers to open new channels, and to widen 
and deepen those which had existed before, for 
the purpose of drawing off the waters from 
their usual bed. When these passages were 
thus prepared, the water was let into them one 
night, at a time previously designated, and it 
soon ceased to flow through the city. The de- 
tachments of soldiers marched in over the bed 
of the stream, carrying with them vast num- 
bers of ladders. With these they easily scaled 
the low walls which lined the banks of the riv- 
er, and Belshazzar was thunderstruck with the 
announcement made to him in the midst of one 
of his feasts that the Persians were in complete 
and full possession of the city. 



B.C.608.] Restoration of the Jews. 207 

The Jewish captivity. Jeremiah and the book of ChronicleB. 



Chapter IX. 

The Restoration of the Jews. 

f ilHE period of the invasion of Babylonia by 
-■- Cyrus, and the taking of the city, was du- 
ring the time while the Jews were in captivity 
there. Cyrus was their deliverer. It results 
from this circumstance that the name of Cyrus 
is connected with sacred history more than that 
of any other great conqueror of ancient times. 
It was a common custom in the early ages 
of the world for powerful sovereigns to take the 
people of a conquered country captive, and 
make them slaves. They employed them, to 
some extent, as personal household servants, but 
more generally as agricultural laborers, to till 
the lands. 

An account of the captivity of the Jews in 
Babylon is given briefly in the closing chapters 
of the second book of Chronicles, though many 
of the attendant circumstances are more fully 
detailed in the book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah 
was a prophet who lived in the time of the cap- 
tivity. Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, 



208 Cyrus the Great. [B.C. 608. 

Incursions of Nebuchadnezzar, Denunciations of Jeremiab 

made repeated incursions into the land of Ju- 
dea, sometimes carrying away the reigning 
monarch, sometimes deposing him and appoint- 
ing another sovereign in his stead, sometimes 
assessing a tax or tribute upon the land, and 
sometimes plundering the city, and carrying 
away all the gold and silver that he could find. 
Thus the kings and the people were kept in a 
continual state of anxiety and terror for many 
years, exposed incessantly to the inroads of this 
nation of robbers and plunderers, that had, so 
unfortunately for them, found their way across 
their frontiers. King Zedekiah was the last of 
this oppressed and unhappy line of Jewish 
kings. 

The prophet Jeremiah was accustomed to de- 
nounce the sins of the Jewish nation, by which 
these terrible calamities had been brought upon 
them, with great courage, and with an elo- 
quence solemn and sublime. He declared that 
the miseries which the people suffered were the 
special judgments of Heaven, and he proclaim- 
ed repeatedly and openly, and in the most pub- 
lic places of the city, still heavier calamities 
which he said were impending. The people 
were troubled and distressed at these prophetic 
warnings, and some of them were deeply in- 



B.C.608.] Restoration of the Jews. 209 

Predictions of Jeremiah. Exasperation of the priests and people. 

censed against Jeremiah for uttering them. 
Finally, on one occasion, he took his stand in 
one of the public courts of the Temple, and, ad- 
dressing the concourse of priests and people that 
were there, he declared that, unless the nation 
repented of their sins and turned to God, the 
whole city should be overwhelmed. Even the 
Temple itself, the sacred house of God, should 
be destroyed, and the very site abandoned. 

The priests and the people who heard this 
denunciation were greatly exasperated. They 
seized Jeremiah, and brought him before a great 
judicial assembly for trial. The judges asked 
him why he uttered such predictions, declaring 
that by doing so he acted like an enemy to his 
country and a traitor, and that he deserved to 
die. The excitement was very great against 
him, and the populace could hardly be restrain- 
ed from open violence. In the midst of this 
scene Jeremiah was calm and unmoved, and 
replied to their accusations as follows : 

" Every thing which I have said against this 
city and this house, I have said by the direc- 
tion of the Lord Jehovah. Instead of resenting 
it, and being angry with me for delivering my 
message, it becomes you to look at your sins, 
and repent of them, and forsake them. It may 
O 



210 Cyrus the Great. [B.C. 608. 

Defense of Jeremiah. He is liberated. 

be that by so doing Grod will have mercy upon 
you, and will avert the calamities which other- 
wise will most certainly come. As for myself, 
here I am in your hands. You can deal with 
me just as you think best. You can kill me 
if you will, but you may be assured that if you 
do so, you will bring the guilt and the conse- 
quences of shedding innocent blood upon your- 
selves and upon this city. I have said nothing 
and foretold nothing but by commandment of 
the Lord."* 

The speech produced, as might have been 
expected, a great division among the hearers. 
Some were more angry than ever, and were 
eager to put the prophet to death. Others de- 
fended him, and insisted that he should not die. 
The latter, for the time, prevailed. Jeremiah 
was set at liberty, and continued his earnest 
expostulations with the people on account of 
their sins, and his terrible annunciations of the 
impending ruin of the city just as before. 

These unwelcome truths being so painful for 
the people to hear, other prophets soon began to 
appear to utter contrary predictions, for the 
sake, doubtless, of the popularity which they 
should themselves acquire by their promises of 

* Jeremiah, xxvi., 12-15. 



B.C. 608.] Restoration of the Jews. 211 

Symbolic method of teaching. The wooden yoke and the iron yoke. 

returning peace and prosperity. The name of 
one of these false prophets was Hananiah. On 
one occasion, Jeremiah, in order to present and 
enforce what he had to say more effectually on 
the minds of the people by means of a visible 
symbol, made a small wooden yoke, by divine 
direction, and placed it upon his neck, as a to- 
ken of the bondage which his predictions were 
threatening. Hananiah took this yoke from his 
neck and broke it, saying that, as he had thus 
broken Jeremiah's wooden yoke, so God would 
break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar from all na- 
tions within two years ; and then, even those 
of the Jews who had already been taken cap- 
tive to Babylon should return again in peace. 
Jeremiah replied that Hananiah's predictions 
were false, and that, though the wooden yoke 
was broken, God would make for Nebuchad- 
nezzar a yoke of iron, with which he should 
bend the Jewish nation in a bondage more cruel 
than ever. Still, Jeremiah himself predicted 
that after seventy years from the time when 
the last great captivity should come, the Jews 
should all be restored again to their native land. 
He expressed this certain restoration of the 
Jews, on one occasion, by a sort of symbol, by 
means of which he made a much stronger im- 



212 Cyrus the Great. [B.C. 608. 

The title deeds of Jeremiah's estate. The deeds deposited. 

pression on the minds of the people than could 
have been done by simple words. There was 
a piece of land in the country of Benjamin, one 
of the provinces of Judea, which belonged to 
the family of Jeremiah, and it was held in such 
a way that, by paying a certain sum of money, 
Jeremiah himself might possess it, the right 
of redemption .being in him. Jeremiah was in 
prison at this time. His uncle's son came into 
the court of the prison, and proposed to him to 
purchase the land. Jeremiah did so in the most 
public and formal manner. The title deeds 
were drawn up and subscribed, witnesses were 
summoned, the money weighed and paid over, 
the whole transaction being regularly complet- 
ed according to the forms and usages then com- 
mon for the conveyance of landed property. 
When all was finished, Jeremiah gave the 
papers into the hands of his scribe, directing 
him to put them safely away and preserve them 
with care, for after a certain period the country 
of Judea would again be restored to the peace- 
able possession of the Jews, and such titles to 
land would possess once more their full and 
original value. 

On one occasion, when Jeremiah's personal 
liberty was restricted so that he could not utter 



B.C. 608.] Restoration of the Jews. 213 

Baruch writes Jeremiah's prophecies. He reads them to the people. 

publicly, himself, his prophetical warnings, he 
employed Baruch, his scribe, to write them from 
his dictation, with a view of reading them to 
the people from some public and frequented 
part of the city. The prophecy thus dictated 
was inscribed upon a roll of parchment. Ba- 
ruch waited, when he had completed the writ- 
ing, until a favorable opportunity occurred for 
reading it, which was on the occasion of a great 
festival that was held at Jerusalem, and which 
brought the inhabitants of the land together 
from all parts of Judea. On the day of the 
festival, Baruch took the roll in his hand, and 
stationed himself at a very public place, at the 
entrance of one of the great courts of the Tem- 
ple ; there, calling upon the people to hear him, 
he began to read. A great concourse gathered 
around him, and all listened to him with pro- 
found attention. One of the by-standers, how- 
ever, went down immediately into the city, to 
the king's palace, and reported to the king's 
council, who were then assembled there, that a 
great concourse was convened in one of the 
courts of the Temple, and that Baruch was 
there reading to them a discourse or prophecy 
which had been written by Jeremiah. The 
members of the council sent a summons to Ba- 



214 Cyrus the Great. [B.C. 608. 

Baruch summoned before the council. The roll sent to the king. 

ruch to come immediately to them, and to bring 
his writing with him. 

When Baruch arrived, they directed him to 
read what he had written. Baruch accordingly 
read it. They asked him when and how that 
discourse was written. Baruch replied that he 
had written it, word by word, from the dicta- 
tion of Jeremiah. The officers informed him 
that they should be obliged to report the cir- 
cumstances to the king, and they counseled 
Baruch to go to Jeremiah and recommend to 
him to conceal himself, lest the king, in his an- 
ger, should do him some sudden and violent in- 
jury.=^ 

The officers then, leaving the roll in one of 
their own apartments, went to the king, and 
reported the facts to him. He sent one of his 
attendants, named Jehudi, to bring the roll. 
When it came, the king directed Jehudi to 
read it. Jehudi did so, standing by a fire which 
had been made in the apartment^^ for it was 
bitter cold. 

After Jehudi had read a few pages from the 
roll, finding that it contained a repetition of 
the same denunciations and warnings by which 

* See the account of these transactions in the 36th chapter 
of Jeremiah. 



B.C.608.] Restoration of the Jkavs. 215 

The roll destroyed. Jeremiah attempts to leave the city. 

the king had often been displeased before, he 
took a knife and began to cut the parchment 
into pieces, and to throw it on the fire. Some 
other persons who were standing by interfered, 
and earnestly begged the king not to allow the 
roll to be burned. But the king did not inter- 
fere. He permitted Jehudi to destroy the parch- 
ment altogether, and then sent officers to take 
Jeremiah and Baruch, and bring them to him ; 
but they were nowhere to be found. 

The prophet, on one occasion, was reduced 
to extreme distress by the persecutions which 
his faithfulness, and the incessant urgency of 
his warnings and expostulations had brought 
upon him. It was at a time when the Chal- 
dean armies had been driven away from Jeru- 
salem for a short period by the Egyptians, as one 
vulture drives away another from its prey. Jer- 
emiah determined to avail himself of the op- 
portunity to go to the province of Benjamin, to 
visit his friends and family there. He was in- 
tercepted, however, at one of the gates, on his 
way, and accused of a design to make his es- 
cape from the city, and go over to the Chalde- 
ans. The prophet earnestly denied this charge. 
They paid no regard to his declarations, but 
sent him back to Jerusalem, to the officers of 



216 Cyrus the Great. [B.C. 608. 

The king sends for Jeremiah. He is imprisoned. 

the king's government, who confined him in a 
house which they used as a prison. 

After he had remained in this place of con- 
finement for several days, the king sent and 
took him from it, and brought him to the palace. 
The king inquired whether he had any prophecy 
to utter from the Lord. Jeremiah replied that 
the word of the Lord was, that the Chaldeans 
should certainly return again, and that Zede- 
kiah himself should fall into their hands, and 
be carried captive to Babylon. While he thus 
persisted so strenuously in the declarations 
which he had made so often before, he demand- 
ed of the king that he should not be sent back 
again to the house of imprisonment from which 
he had been rescued. The king said he would 
not send him back, and he accordingly directed, 
instead, that he should be taken to the court 
of the public prison, where his confinement 
would be less rigorous, and there he was to be 
supplied daily with food, so long, as the king 
expressed it, as there should be any food re- 
maining in the city. 

But Jeremiah's enemies were not at rest. 
They came again, after a time, to the king, 
and represented to him that the prophet, by his 
gloomy and terrible predictions, discouraged and 



B.C.608.] Restoration of the Jews. 217 

Jeremiah cast into a dungeon. The king orders him to be taken up, 

depressed the hearts of the people, and weak- 
ened their hands ; that he ought, accordingly, to 
be regarded as a public enemy ; and they begged 
the king to proceed decidedly against him. The 
king replied that he would give him into their 
hands, and they might do with him what they 
pleased. 

There was a dungeon in the prison, the only 
access to which was from above. Prisoners 
were let down into it with ropes, and left there 
to die of hunger. The bottom of it was wet 
and miry, and the prophet, when let down into 
its gloomy depths, sank into the deep mire. 
Here he would soon have died of hunger and 
misery ; but the king, feeling some misgivings 
in regard to what he had done, lest it might 
really be a true prophet of God that he had thus 
delivered into the hands of his enemies, inquir- 
ed what the people had done with their prison- 
er ; and when he learned that he had been thus, 
as it were, buried alive, he immediately sent 
officers with orders to take him out of the dun- 
geon. The officers went to the dungeon. They 
opened the mouth of it. They had brought 
ropes with them, to be used for drawing the 
unhappy prisoner up, and cloths, also, which he 
was to fold together and place under his arms. 



218 Cyrus the Great. [B.C. 606. 

Jerusalem besieged by the Babylonians. Capture of the king. 

where the ropes were to pass. These ropes and 
cloths they let down into the dungeon, and call- 
ed upon Jeremiah to place them properly around 
his body. Thus they drew him safely up out 
of the dismal den. 

These cruel persecutions of the faithful proph- 
et were all unavailing either to silence his voice 
or to avert the calamities which his warnings 
portended. At the appointed time, the judg- 
ments which had been so long predicted came 
in all their terrible reality. The Babylonians 
invaded the land in great force, and encamped 
about the city. The siege continued for two 
years. At the end of that time the famine be- 
came insupportable. Zedekiah, the king, de- 
termined to make a sortie, with as strong a force 
as he could command, secretly, at night, in hopes 
to escape with his own life, and intending to 
leave the city to its fate. He succeeded in 
passing out through the city gates with his 
band of followers, and in actually passing the 
Babylonian lines ; but he had not gone far be- 
fore his escape was discovered. He was pur- 
sued and taken. The city was then stormed, 
and, as usual in such cases, it was given up to 
plunder and destruction. Vast numbers of the 
inhabitants were killed ; many more were tak- 



B.C.606.] Restoration of the Jews. 221 

Captivity of the Jews. The prophet Daniel. 

en captive ; the principal buildings, both public 
and private, were burned ; the walls were bro- 
ken down, and all the public treasures of the 
Jews, the gold and silver vessels of the Temple, 
and a vast quantity of private plunder, were 
carried away to Babylon by the conquerors. 
All this was seventy years before the conquest 
of Babylon by Cyrus. 

Of course, during the time of this captivity, 
a very considerable portion of the inhabitants 
of Judea remained in their native land. The 
deportation of a whole people to a foreign land 
is impossible. A vast number, however, of the 
inhabitants of the country were carried away, 
and they remained, for two generations, in a 
miserable bondage. Some of them were em- 
ployed as agricultural laborers in the rural dis- 
tricts of Babylon ; others remained ,in the city, 
and were engaged in servile labors there. The 
prophet Daniel lived in the palaces of the king. 
He was summoned, as the reader will recollect, 
to Belshazzar's feast, on the night when Cyrus 
forced his way into the city, to interpret the 
mysterious writing on the wall, by which the 
fall of the Babylonian monarchy was announced 
in so terrible a manner. 

One year after Cyrus had conquered Baby- 



222 Cyrus the Great. [B.C.536. 

Cyrus takes possession of Babylon, and allows the Jews to return. 

Ion, he issued an edict authorizing the Jews to 
return to Jerusalem, and to rebuild the city and 
the Temple. This event had been long before 
predicted by the prophets, as the result which 
God had determined upon for purposes of his 
own. We should not naturally have expected 
that such a conqueror as Cyrus would feel any 
real and honest interest in promoting the de- 
signs of God ; but still, in the proclamation 
which he issued authorizing the Jews to return, 
he acknowledged the supreme divinity of Jeho- 
vah, and says that he was charged by him with 
the work of rebuilding his Temple, and restoring 
his worship at its ancient seat on Mount Zion. 
It has, however, been supposed by some schol- 
ars, who have examined attentively all the cir- 
cumstances connected with these transactions, 
that so far as Cyrus was influenced by political 
considerations in ordering the return of the 
Jews, his design was to re-establish that nation 
as a barrier between his dominions and those of 
the Egyptians. The Egyptians and the Chal- 
deans had long been deadly enemies, and now 
that Cyrus had become master of the Chaldean 
realms, he would, of course, in assuming their 
territories and their power, be obliged to defend 
himself against their foes. 



B.C.536.] Restoration of the Jews. 223 

Assembling of the Jews. The number that returned. 

Whatever may have been the motives of Cy- 
rus, he decided to allow the Hebrew captives to 
return, and he issued a proclamation to that ef- 
fect. As seventy years had elapsed since the 
captivity commenced, about two generations 
had passed away, and there could have been 
very few then living who had ever seen the land 
of their fathers. The Jews were, however, all 
eager to return. They collected in a vast as- 
sembly, with all the treasures which they were 
allowed to take, and the stores of provisions 
and baggage, and with horses, and mules, and 
other beasts of burden to transport them. When 
assembled for the march, it was found that the 
number, of which a very exact census was tak- 
en, was forty-nine thousand six hundred and 
ninety-seven. 

They had also with them seven or eight hund- 
red horses, about two hundred and fifty mules, 
and about five hundred camels. The chief part, 
however, of their baggage and stores was borne 
by asses, of which there were nearly seven thou- 
sand in the train. The march of this peaceful 
multitude of families — men, women, and chil- 
dren together — burdened as they went, not with 
arms and ammunition for conquest and destruc- 
tion, but with tools and implements for honest 



224 Cyrus the Great. [B.C. 536. 

Arrival of the caravan at Jerusalem. Building the Temple. 



industry, and stores of provisions and utensils 
for the peaceful purposes of social life, as it was, 
in its bearings and results, one of the grandest 
events of history, so it must have presented, in 
its progress, one of the most extraordinary spec- 
tacles that the world has ever seen. 

The grand caravan pursued its long and toil- 
some march from Babylon to Jerusalem with- 
out molestation. All arrived safely, and the 
people immediately commenced the work of 
repairing the walls of the city and rebuilding 
the Temple. When, at length, the foundations 
of the Temple were laid, a great celebration was 
held to commemorate the event. This celebra- 
tion exhibited a remarkable scene of mingled 
rejoicing and mourning. The younger part of 
the population, who had never seen Jerusalem 
in its former grandeur, felt only exhilaration and 
joy at their re-establishment in the city of their 
fathers. The work of raising the edifice, whose 
foundations they had laid, was to them simply 
a new enterprise, and they looked forward to 
the work of carrying it on with pride and pleas- 
ure. The old men, however, who remembered 
the former Temple, were filled with mournful 
recollections of days of prosperity and peace in 
their childhood, and of the magnificence of the 



B.C.536.] Restoration of the Jews. 225 

Emotions of the old men. Rejoicings of the young men. 

former Temple, which they could now never 
hope to see realized agaia. It was customary, 
in those days, to express sorrow and grief by 
exclamations and outcries, as gladness and joy 
are expressed audibly now. Accordingly, on 
this occasion, the cries of grief and of bitter re- 
gret at the thought of losses which could now 
never be retrieved, were mingled with the shouts 
of rejoicing and triumph raised by the ardent 
and young, who knew nothing of the past, but 
looked forward with hope and happiness to the 
future. 

The Jews encountered various hinderances, 
and met with much opposition in their attempts 
to reconstruct their ancient city, and to re-es- 
tablish the Mosaic ritual there. We must, how- 
ever, now return to the history of Cyrus, refer- 
ring the reader for a narrative of the circum- 
stances connected with the rebuilding of Jeru- 
salem to the very minute account given in the 
sacred books of Ezra and Nehemiah. 
P 



226 Cyrus the Great. 

Xenophon's romantic tales. Panthea a Susian captive. 



Chapter X. 
The Story of Panthea. 

IN the preceding chapters of this work, we 
have followed mainly the authority of He- 
rodotus, except, indeed, in the account of the 
visit of Cyrus to his grandfather in his child- 
hood, which is taken from Xenophon. We 
shall, in this chapter, relate the story of Pan- 
thea, which is also one of Xenophon's tales. 
We give it as a specimen of the romantic nar- 
ratives in which Xenophon's history abounds, 
and on account of the many illustrations of an- 
cient manners and customs which it contains, 
leaving it for each reader to decide for himself 
what weight he will attaoh to its claims to be 
regarded as veritable history. We relate the 
story here in our own language, but as to the 
facts, we follow faithfully the course of Xeno- 
phon's narration. 

Panthea was a Susian captive. She was 
taken, together with a great many other cap- 
tives and much plunder, after one of the great 
battles which Cyrus fought with the Assyrians. 



The Story of Pan the a. 227 

Valuable spoil. Its division. Share of Cyrus. 

Her husband was an Assyrian general, though 
he himself was not captured at this time with 
his wife. The spoil which came into possession 
of the army on the occasion of the battle in 
which Panthea was taken was of great value. 
There were beautiful and costly suits of arms, 
rich tents made of splendid materials and highly 
ornamented, large sums of money, vessels of 
silver and gold, and slaves — some prized for their 
beauty, and others for certain accomplishments 
which were highly valued in those days. Cy- 
rus appointed a sort of commission to divide this 
spoil. He pursued always a very generous pol- 
icy on all these occasions, showing no desire to 
secure such treasures to himself, but distrib- 
uting them with profuse liberality among his 
officers and soldiers. 

The commissioners whom he appointed in 
this case divided the spoil among the various 
generals of the army, and among the different 
bodies of soldiery, with great impartiality. 
Among the prizes assigned to Cyrus were two 
singing women of great fame, and this Susian 
lady. Cyrus thanked the distributors for the 
share of booty which they had thus assigned to 
him, but said that if any of his friends wished 
for either of these captives, they could have 



228 Cyrus the Great. 

Panthea given to Cyrus. Araspes. Abradates. 

them. An officer asked for one of the singers. 
Cyrus gave her to him immediately, saying, ''I 
consider myself more obliged to you for asking 
her, than you are to me for giving her to you." 
As for the Susian lady, Cyrus had not yet seen 
her, but he called one of his most intimate and 
confidential friends to him, and requested him 
to take her under his charge. 

The name of this officer was Araspes. He 
was a Mede, and he had been Cyrus's particu- 
lar friend and playmate when he was a boy, 
visiting his grandfather in Media. The reader 
will perhaps recollect that he is mentioned to- 
ward the close of our account of that visit, as 
the special favorite to whom Cyrus presented 
his robe or mantle when he took leave of his 
friends in returning to his native land. 

Araspes, when he received this charge, asked 
Cyrus whether he had himself seen the lady. 
Cyrus replied that he had not. Araspes then 
proceeded to give an account of her. The name 
of her husband was Abradates, and he was the 
king of Susa, as they termed him. The reason 
why he was not taken prisoner at the same 
time with his wife was, that when the battle 
was fought and the Assyrian camp captured, 
he was absent, having gone away on an em- 



The Story op Panthea. 229 

Account of Panthea's capture. Her great loveliness. 

bassage to another nation. This circumstance 
shows that Abradates, though called a king, 
could hardly have been a sovereign and inde- 
pendent prince, but rather a governor or vice- 
roy — those words expressing to our minds more 
truly the station of such a sort of king as could 
be sent on an embassy. 

Araspes went on to say that, at the time of 
their making the capture, he, with some others, 
went into Panthea's tent, where they found her 
and her attendant ladies sitting on the ground, 
with veils over their faces, patiently awaiting 
their doom. Notwithstanding the concealment 
produced by the attitudes and dress of these la- 
dies, there was something about the air and 
figure of Panthea which showed at once that 
she was the queen. The leader of Araspes's 
party asked them all to rise. They did so, and 
then the superiority of Panthea was still more 
apparent than before. There was an extraor- 
dinary grace and beauty in her attitude and in 
all her motions. She stood in a dejected pos- 
ture, and her countenance was sad, though in- 
expressibly lovely. She endeavored to appear 
calm and composed, though the tears had evi- 
dently been falling from her eyes. 

The soldiers pitied her in her distress, and 



230 Cyrus the Great. 

Attempts at consolation. Panthea's renewed griet^ 

the leader of the party attempted to console her, 
as Araspes said, by telling her that she had 
nothing to fear ; that they were aware that her 
husband was a most worthy and excellent man ; 
and although, by this capture, she was lost to 
him, she would have no cause to regret the 
event, for she would be reserved for a new hus- 
band not at all inferior to her former one either 
in person, in understanding, in rank, or in power. 

These well-meant attempts at consolation did 
not appear to have the good effect desired. 
They only awakened Panthea's grief and suf- 
fering anew. The tears began to fall again 
faster than before. Her grief soon became more 
and more uncontrollable. She sobbed and cried 
aloud, and began to wring her hands and tear her 
mantle — the customary Oriental expression of 
inconsolable sorrow and despair. Araspes said 
that in these gesticulations her neck, and hands, 
and a part of her face appeared, and that she 
was the most beautiful woman that he had ever 
beheld. He wished Cyrus to see her. 

Cyrus said, "No; he would not see her by 
any means." Araspes asked liim why. He 
said that there would be danger that he should 
forget his duty to the army, and lose his inter- 
est in the great military enterprise in which he 



The Story of Panthea. 231 



Cyrus declines to see Panthea. His reasons. 

was engaged, if he should allow himself to be- 
come captivated by the charms of such a lady, 
as he very probably would be if he were now to 
visit her. Araspes said in reply that Cyrus 
might at least see her ; as to becoming capti- 
vated with her, and devoting himself to her to 
such a degree as to neglect his other duties, he 
could certainly control himself in respect to that 
danger. Cyrus said that it was not certain 
that he could so control himself; and then there 
followed a long discussion between Cyrus and 
Araspes, in which Araspes maintained that ev- 
ery man had the command of his own heart and 
affections, and that, with proper determination 
and energy, he could direct the channels in 
which they should run, and confine them with- 
in such limits and bounds as he pleased. Cy- 
rus, on the other hand, maintained that human 
passions were stronger than the human will ; 
that no one could rely on the strength of his 
resolutions to control the impulses of the heart 
once strongly excited, and that a man's only 
safety was in controlling the circumstances 
which tended to excite them. This was spe- 
cially true, he said, in respect to the passion of 
love. The experience of mankind, he said, had 
shown that no strength of moral principle, no 



232 Cyrus the Gtreat. 

Araspes's self-confidence. Panthea's patience and gentleness. 

firmness of purpose, no fixedness of resolution, 
no degree of suffering, no fear of shame, was 
sufficient to control, in the hearts of men, the 
impetuosity of the passion of love, when it was 
once fairly awakened. In a word, Araspes ad- 
vocated, on the subject of love, a sort of new 
school philosophy, while that of Cyrus leaned 
very seriously toward the old. 

In conclusion, Cyrus jocosely counseled Aras- 
pes to beware lest he should prove that love was 
stronger than the will by becoming himself 
enamored of the beautiful Susian queen. Aras- 
pes said that Cyrus need not fear ; there was 
no danger. He must be a miserable wretch 
indeed, he said, who could not summon within 
him sufficient resolution and energy to control 
his own passions and desires. As for himself, 
he was sure that he was safe. 

As usual with those who are self-confident 
and boastful, Araspes failed when the time of 
trial came. He took charge of the royal cap- 
tive whom Cyrus committed to him with a very 
firm resolution to be faithful to his trust. He 
pitied the unhappy queen's misfortunes, and 
admired the heroic patience and gentleness of 
spirit with which she bore them. The beauty 
of her countenance, and her thousand personal 



The Story op Pantiiea. 23o 

Araspes'a kindness to Panthea. His emotions master him. 

charms, which were all heightened by the ex- 
pression of sadness and sorrow which they bore, 
touched his heart. It gave him pleasure to 
grant her every indulgence consistent with her 
condition of captivity, and to do every thing in 
his power to promote her welfare. She was 
very grateful for these favors, and the few brief 
words and looks of kindness with which she re- 
turned them repaid him for his efforts to please 
her a thousand-fold. He saw her, too, in her 
tent, in the presence of her maidens, at all 
times ; and as she looked upon him as only her 
custodian and guard, and as, too, her mind was 
wholly occupied by the thoughts of her absent 
husband and her hopeless grief, her actions were 
entirely free and unconstrained in his presence. 
This made her only the more attractive ; every 
attitude and movement seemed to possess, in 
Araspes's mind, an inexpressible charm. In a 
word, the result was what Cyrus had predicted. 
Araspes became wholly absorbed in the interest 
which was awakened in him by the charms of 
the beautiful captive. He made many resolu- 
tions, but they were of no avail. While he was 
away from her, he felt strong in his determina- 
tion to yield to these feelings no more ; but as 
soon as he came into her presence, all these res- 



234 Cyrus the Great. 

Araspes in love. Progress of the army. 

olutions melted wholly away, and he yielded 
his heart entirely to the control of emotions 
which, however vincible they might appear at 
a distance, were found, when the time of trial 
came, to possess a certain mysterious and mag- 
ic power, which made it most dehghtful for the 
heart to yield before them in the contest, and 
utterly impossible to stand firm and resist. In 
a word, when seen at a distance, love appeared 
to him an enemy which he was ready to brave, 
and was sure that he could overcome ; but when 
near, it transformed itself into the guise of a 
friend, and he accordingly threw down the arms 
with which he had intended to combat it, and 
gave himself up to it in a delirium of pleas- 
ure. 

Things continued in this state for some time. 
The army advanced from post to post, and from 
encampment to encampment, taking the cap- 
tives in their train. New cities were taken, 
new provinces overrun, and new plans for future 
conquests were formed. At last a case occur- 
red in which Cyrus wished to send some one 
as a spy into a distant enemy's country. The 
circumstances were such that it was necessary 
that a person of considerable intelligence and 
rank should go, as Cyrus wished the messenger 



The Story of Panthea. 2S5 

Araspes confesses his love. Panthea oflfended. 

whom he should send to make his way to the 
court of the sovereign, and become personally- 
acquainted with the leading men of the state, 
and to examine the general resources of the 
kingdom. It was a very different case from 
that of an ordinary spy, who was to go into a 
neighboring camp merely to report the num- 
bers and disposition of an organized army. Cy- 
rus was uncertain whom he should send on such 
an embassy. 

In the mean time, Araspes had ventured to 
express to Panthea his love for her. She was 
offended. In the first place, she was faithful to 
her husband, and did not wish to receive such 
addresses from any person. Then, besides, 
she considered Araspes, having been placed in 
charge of her by Cyrus, his master, only for the 
purpose of keeping her safely, as guilty of a 
betrayal of his trust in having dared to cherish 
and express sentiments of affection for her him- 
self. She, however, forbore to reproach him, 
or to complain of him to Cyrus. She simply 
repelled the advances that he made, supposing 
that, if she did this with firmness and decision, 
Araspes would feel rebuked and would say no 
more. It did not, however, produce this effect. 
Araspes continued to importune her with dec- 



236 Cyrus the Great. 

Panthea appeals to Cyrus. Cyrus reproves Araspes. 

larations of love, and at length she felt com- 
pelled to appeal to Cyrus. 

Cyrus, instead of being incensed at what 
might have been considered a betrayal of trust 
on the part of Araspes, only laughed at the fail- 
ure and fall in which all his favorite's promises 
and boastings had ended. He sent a messen- 
ger to Araspes to caution him in regard to his 
conduct, telling him that he ought to respect 
the feelings of such a woman as Panthea had 
proved herself to be. The messenger whom 
Cyrus sent was not content with delivering his 
message as Cyrus had dictated it. He made it 
much more stern and severe. In fact, he re- 
proached the lover, in a very harsh and bitter 
manner, for indulging such a passion. He told 
him that he had betrayed a sacred trust reposed 
in him, and acted in a manner at once impious 
and unjust. Araspes was overwhelmed with 
remorse and anguish, and with fear of the con- 
sequences which might ensue, as men are when 
the time arrives for being called to account for 
transgressions which, while they were commit- 
ting them, gave them little concern. 

When Cyrus heard how much Araspes had 
been distressed by the message of reproof which 
he had received, and by his fears of punishment, 



The 8tory of 


Panthea. 237 


Cyrus's generosity. 


Araspes's continued distress. 



he sent for him. Araspes came. Cyrus told 
him that he had no occasion to be alarmed. " I 
do not wonder," said he, " at the result which 
has happened. We all know how difficult it is 
to resist the influence which is exerted upon our 
minds by the charms of a beautiful woman, 
when we are thrown into circumstances of 
familiar intercourse with her. Whatever of 
wrong there has been ought to be considered 
as more my fault than yours. I was wrong in 
placing you in such circumstances of tempta- 
tion, by giving you so beautiful a woman in 
charge." 

Araspes was very much struck with the gen- 
erosity of Cyrus, in thus endeavoring to soothe 
his anxiety and remorse, and taking upon him- 
self the responsibility and the blame. He 
thanked Cyrus very earnestly for his kindness ; 
but he said that, notwithstanding his sovereign's 
willingness to forgive him, he felt still oppressed 
with grief and concern, for the knowledge of 
his fault had been spread abroad in the army ; 
his enemies were rejoicing over him, and were 
predicting his disgrace and ruin ; and some per- 
sons had even advised him to make his escape, 
by absconding before any worse calamity should 
befall him. 



238 Cyrus the Great. 

Plan of Cyrus,' Araspes pretends to desert. 

''If this is so," said Cyrus, "it puts it in 
your power to render me a very essential serv- 
ice." Cyrus then explained to Araspes the 
necessity that he was under of finding some 
confidential agent to go on a secret mission into 
the enemy's country, and the importance that 
the messenger should go under such circum- 
stances as not to be suspected of being Cyrus's 
friend in disguise. "You can pretend to ab- 
scond," said he; "it will be immediately said 
that you fled for fear of my displeasure. I will 
pretend to send in pursuit of you. The news 
of your evasion will spread rapidly, and will be 
carried, doubtless, into the enemy's country ; so 
that, when you arrive there, they will be pre- 
pared to welcome you as a deserter from my 
cause, and a refugee." 

This plan was agreed upon, and Araspes pre- 
pared for his departure. Cyrus gave him his 
instructions, and they concerted together the in- 
formation — fictitious, of course — which he was 
to communicate to the enemy in respect to Cy- 
rus's situation and designs. When all was 
ready for his departure, Cyrus asked him how 
it was that he was so willing to separate himself 
thus from the beautiful Panthea. He said in 
reply, that when he was absent from Panthea, 



The Story of Pan the a. 239 

Panthea proposes to send for her hiisband. Cyrus consents, 

he was capable of easily forming any determin- 
ation, and of pursuing any line of conduct that 
his duty required, while yet, in her presence, he 
found his love for her, and the impetuous feel- 
ings to which it gave rise, wholly and absolute- 
ly uncontrollable. 

As soon as Araspes was gone, Panthea, who 
supposed that he had really fled for fear of the 
indignation of the king, in consequence of his 
unfaithfulness to his trust, sent to Cyrus a mes- 
sage, expressing her regret at the unworthy con- 
duct and the flight of Araspes, and saying thai 
she could, and gladly would, if he consented, 
repair the loss which the desertion of Araspes 
occasioned by sending for her own husband. 
He was, she said, dissatisfied with the govern- 
ment under which he lived, having been cruelly 
and tyrannically treated by the prince. " If 
you will allow me to send for him," she added, 
*' I am sure he will come and join your army ; 
and I assure you that you will find him a much 
more faithful and devoted servant than Araspes 
has been." 

Cyrus consented to this proposal, and Pan- 
thea sent for Abradates. Abradates came at 
the head of two thousand horse, which formed 
a very important addition to the forces under 



240 Cyrus the Great. 

Joyful meeting of Panthea and her husband. The armed chariots. 

Cyrus's command. The meeting between Pan- 
thea and her husband was joyful in the extreme. 
When Abradates learned from his wife how hon- 
orable and kind had been the treatment which 
Cyrus had rendered to her, he was overwhelmed 
with a sense of gratitude, and he declared that 
he would do the utmost in his power to requite 
the obligations he was under. 

Abradates entered at once, with great ardor 
and zeal, into plans for making the force which 
he had brought as efficient as possible in the 
service of Cyrus. He observed that Cyrus was 
interested, at that time, in attempting to build 
and equip a corps of armed chariots, such as 
were often used in fields of battle in those days. 
This was a very expensive sort of force, corre- 
ponding, in that respect, with the artillery used 
in modern times. The carriages were heavy 
and strong, and were drawn generally by two 
horses. They had short, scythe-like blades of 
steel projecting from the axle-trees on each side, 
by which the ranks of the enemy were mowed 
down when the carriages were driven among 
them. The chariots were made to contain, be- 
sides the driver of the horses, one or more war- 
riors, each armed in the completest manner. 
These warriors stood on the floor of the vehicle, 



The Story of Pant he a. 243 

Abradates'3 eight-horse chariot. Panthea's presents for her husband. 

and fought with javelins and spears. The great 
plains which abound in the interior countries 
of Asia were very favorable for this species of 
warfare. 

Abradates immediately fitted up for Cyrus a 
hundred such chariots at his own expense, and 
provided horses to draw them from his own 
troop. He made one chariot much larger than 
the rest, for himself, as he intended to take 
command of this corps of chariots in person. 
His own chariot was to be drawn by eight 
horses. His wife Panthea was very much in- 
terested in these preparations. She wished to 
do something herself toward the outfit. She 
accordingly furnished, from her own private 
treasures, a helmet, a corslet, and arm-pieces 
of gold. These articles formed a suit of armor 
sufficient to cover all that part of the body 
which would be exposed in standing in the 
chariot. She also provided breast-pieces and 
side-pieces of brass for the horses. The whole 
chariot, thus equipped, with its eight horses in 
their gay trappings and resplendent armor, and 
with Abradates standing within it, clothed in 
his panoply of gold, presented, as it drove, in the 
sight of the whole army, around the plain of 
the encampment, a most imposing spectacle. 



\ 
244 Cyrus the Great. 

Imposing spectacle. Panthea's preparations. 

It was a worthy leader, as the spectators thought, 
to head the formidable column of a hundred 
similar engines which were to follow in its 
train. If we imagine the havoc which a hund- 
red scythe-armed carriages would produce when 
driven, with headlong fury, into dense masses of 
men, on a vast open plain, we shall have some 
idea of one item of the horrors of ancient war. 

The full splendor of Abradates's equipments 
were not, however, displayed at first, for Pan- 
thea kept what she had done a secret for a 
time, intending to reserve her contribution for 
a parting present to her husband when the pe- 
riod should arrive for going into battle. She 
had accordingly taken the measure for her work 
by stealth, from the armor which Abradates 
was accustomed to wear, and had caused the 
artificers to make the golden pieces with the 
utmost secrecy. Besides the substantial de- 
fenses of gold which she provided, she added 
various other articles for ornament and decora- 
tion. There was a purple robe, a crest for the 
helmet, which was of a violet color, plumes, 
and likewise bracelets for the wrists. Panthea 
kept all these things herself until the day ar- 
rived when her husband was going into battle 
for the first time with his train, and then, when 



The Story of Pan the a. 245 

Panthea offers her presents, Abradates's pleasure. 

he went into his tent to prepare himself to as- 
cend his chariot, she brought them to him. 

Abradates was astonished when he saw them. 
He soon understood how they had been provid- 
ed, and he exclaimed, with a heart full of sur- 
prise and pleasure, "And so, to provide me 
with this splendid armor and dress, you have 
been depriving yourself of all your finest and 
most beautiful ornaments I" 

"No," said Panthea, "you are yourself my 
finest ornament, if you appear in other people's 
eyes as you do in mine, and I have not depriv- 
ed myself of you." 

The appearance which Abradates made in 
other people's eyes was certainly very splendid 
on this occasion. There were many spectators 
present to see him mount his chariot and drive 
away; but so great was their admiration of 
Panthea's affection and regard for her husband, 
and so much impressed were they with her 
beauty, that the great chariot, the resplendent 
horses, and the grand warrior with his armor of 
gold, which the magnificent equipage was in- 
tended to convey, were, all together, scarcely 
able to draw away the eyes of the spectators 
from her. She stood, for a while, by the side 
of the chariot, addressing her husband in an un- 



246 Cyrus the Great. 

Abradates departs for the field. The farewell. 

der tone, reminding him of the obligations which 
they were under to Cyrus for his generous and 
noble treatment of her, and urging him, now. ' 
that he was going to be put to the test, to re- 
deem the promise which she had made in his 
name, that Cyrus would find him faithful, 
brave, and true. 

The driver then closed the door by which Ab- 
radates had mounted, so that Panthea was sep- 
arated from her husband, though she could still 
see him as he stood in his place. She gazed 
upon him with a countenance full of affection 
and solicitude. She kissed the margin of the 
chariot as it began to move away. She walked 
along after it as it Went, as if, after all, she 
could not bear the separation. Abradates turn- 
ed, and vhen he saw her coming on after the 
carriage, he said, waving his hand for a parting 
salutation, "Farewell, Panthea; go back now 
to your tent, and do not be anxious about me. 
Farewell," Panthea turned — her attendants 
came and took her away — the spectators all 
turned, too, to follow her with their eyes, and 
no one paid any regard to the chariot or to Ab- 
radates until she was gone. 

On the field of battle, before the engagement 
commenced, Cyrus, in passing along the lines, 



The Story of Pan the a. 247 

The order of battle. Appearance of Abradates. 

paused, when he came to the chariots of Abra- 
dates, to examine the arrangements which had 
been made for them, and to converse a moment 
with the chief. He saw that the chariots were 
drawn up in a part of the field where there was 
opposed to them a very formidable array of 
Egyptian soldiers. The Egyptians in this war 
were allies of the enemy. Abradates, leaving 
his chariot in the charge of his driver, descend- 
ed and came to Cyrus, and remained in conver- 
sation with him for a few moments, to receive 
his last orders. Cyrus directed him to remain 
where he was, and not to attack the enemy 
until he received a certain signal. At length 
the two chieftains separated ; Abradates return- 
ed to his chariot, and Cyrus moved on. Ab- 
radates then. moved slowly along his lines, to 
encourage and animate his men, and to give 
them the last directions in respect to the charge 
which they were about to make on the enemy 
when the signal should be given. All eyes were 
turned to the magnificent spectacle which his 
equipage presented as it advanced toward them ; 
the chariot, moving slowly along the line, the 
tall and highly-decorated form of its commander 
rising in the center of it, while the eight horses, 
animated by the sound of the trumpets, and by 



248 Cyrus the Great, 

The charge. Terrible havoc made by the chariots. 

the various excitements of the scene, stepped 
proudly, their brazen armor clanking as they 
came. 

When, at length, the signal was given, Ab- 
radates, calling on the other chariots to follow, 
put his horses to their speed, and the whole 
line rushed impetuously on to the attack of the 
Egyptians. War horses, properly trained to 
their work, will fight with their hoofs with al- 
most as much reckless determination as men 
will with spears. They rush madly on to en- 
counter whatever opposition there may be before 
them, and strike down and leap over whatever 
comes in their way, as if they fully understood 
the nature of the work that their riders or 
drivers were wishing them to do. Cyrus, as 
he passed along from one part of the battle field 
to another, saw the horses of Abradates's line 
dashing thus impetuously into the thickest 
ranks of the enemy. The men, on every side, 
were beaten down by the horses' hoofs, or over- 
turned by the wheels, or cut down by the 
scythes; and they who here and there escaped 
these dangers, became the aim of the soldiers 
who stood in the chariots, and were transfixed 
with their spears. The heavy wheels rolled 
and jolted mercilessly over the bodies of the 



The Story of Panthea. 249 

The great victory. The council of war. 

wounded and the fallen, while the scythes 
caught hold of and cut through every thing 
that came in their way — whether the shafts of 
javelins and spears, or the limbs and bodies of 
men — and tore every thing to pieces in their ter- 
rible career. As Cyrus rode rapidly by, he saw 
Abradates in the midst of this scene, driving on 
in his chariot, and shouting to his men in a 
phrensy of excitement and triumph. 

The battle in which these events occurred 
was one of the greatest and most important 
which Cyrus fought. He gained the victory. 
His enemies were every where routed and driv- 
en from the field. When the contest was at 
length decided, the army desisted from the 
slaughter and encamped for the night. On 
the following day, the generals assembled at 
the tent of Cyrus to discuss the arrangements 
which were to be made in respect to the dispo- 
sition of the captives and of the spoil, and to 
the future movements of the army. Abradates 
was not there. For a time, Cyrus, in the ex- 
citement and confusion of the scene, did not ob- 
serve his absence. At length he inquired for 
him. A soldier present told him that he had 
been killed from his chariot in the midst of the 
Egyptians, and that his wife was at that mo- 



250 Cyrus the Great. 

Abradates slain. Panthea's grief. 

ment attending to the interment of the body, 
on the banks of a river which flowed near the 
field of battle. Cyrus, on hearing this, uttered 
a loud exclamation of astonishment and sorrow. 
He dropped the business in which he had been 
engaged with his council, mounted his horse, 
commanded attendants to follow him with every 
thing that could be necessary on such an occa- 
sion, and then, asking those who knew to lead 
the way, he drove off to find Panthea. 

When he arrived at the spot, the dead body 
of Abradates was lying upon the ground, while 
Panthea sat by its side, holding the head in her 
lap, overwhelmed herself with unutterable sor- 
row. Cyrus leaped from his horse, knelt down 
by the side of the corpse, saying, at the same 
time, " Alas ! thou brave and faithful soul, and 
art thou gone ?" 

At the same time, he took hold of the hand 
of Abradates ; but, as he attempted to raise it, 
the arm came away from the body. It had 
been cut off by an Egyptian sword. Cyrus was 
himself shocked at the spectacle, and Panthea's 
grief broke forth anew. She cried out with bit- 
ter anguish, replaced the arm in the position in 
which she had arranged it before, and told 
Cyrus that the rest of the body was in the 



The Story of Panthea. 251 

Cyrus's kindness to Panthea. She is inconsolable. 

same condition. Whenever she attempted to 
speak, her sobs and tears almost prevented her 
utterance. She bitterly reproached herself for 
having been, perhaps, the cause of her husband's 
death, by urging him, as she had done, to fidel- 
ity and courage when he went into battle 
^' And now," she said, '' he is dead, while I, 
who urged him forward into the danger, am 
still alive." 

Cyrus said what he could to console Pan- 
thea's grief; but he found it utterly inconsola- 
ble. He gave directions for furnishing her with 
every thing which she could need, and promis- 
ed her that he would make ample arrangements 
for providing for her in future. "You shall be 
treated," he said, "while you remain with me, 
in the most honorable manner ; or if you have 
any friends whom you wish to join, you shall 
be sent to them safely whenever you please." 

Panthea thanked him for his kindness. She 
had a friend, she said, whom she wished to join, 
and she would let him know in due time who 
it was. In the mean time, she wished that 
Cyrus would leave her alone, for a while, with 
her servants, and her waiting-maid, and the 
dead body of her husband. Cyrus accordingly 
withdrew. As soon as he had gone, Panthea 



252 Cyrus the Great. 

Panthea lulls herself on the dead body of her husband. 

sent away the servants also, retaining the wait- 
ing-maid alone. The waiting-maid began to 
be anxious and concerned at witnessing these 
mysterious arrangements, as if they portended 
some new calamity. She wondered what her 
mistress was going to do. Her doubts were 
dispelled by seeing Panthea produce a sword, 
which she had kept concealed hitherto benelith 
her robe. Her maid begged her, with much 
earnestness and many tears, not to destroy her- 
self ; but Panthea was immovable. She said 
she could not live any longer. She directed the 
maid to envelop her body, as soon as she was 
dead, in the same mantle with her husband, 
and to have them both deposited together in the 
same grave ; and before her stupefied attendant 
could do any thing to save her, she sat down by 
the side of her husband's body, laid her head 
upon his breast, and in that position gave her- 
self the fatal wound. In a few minutes she 
ceased to breathe. 

Cyrus expressed his respect for the memory 
of Abradates and Panthea by erecting a lofty 
monument over their common grave. 



Conversations. 253 

Greneral character of Xenoplion's history. Dialogues and conversations. 



Chapter XI. 

Conversations. 

TTTE have given the story of Panthea, as 
* * contained in the preceding chapter, in 
our own language, it is true, but without any- 
intentional addition or embellishment whatever. 
Each reader will judge for himself whether 
such a narrative, written for the entertainment 
of vast assemblies at public games and cele- 
brations, is most properly to be regarded as an 
invention of romance, or as a simple record of 
veritable history. 

A great many extraordinary and dramatic 
incidents and adventures, similar in general 
character to the story of Panthea, are inter- 
woven with the narrative in Xenophon's his- 
tory. There are also, besides these, many long 
and minute details of dialogues and conversa- 
tions, which, if they had really occurred, would 
have required a very high degree of skill in ste- 
nography to produce such reports of them as 
Xenophon has given. The incidents, too, out of 
which these conversations grew, are w^orthy of 



254 Cyrus the Great. 

Ancient mode of discussion. Cyrus's games. 

attention, as we can often judge, by the nature 
and character of an incident described, whether 
it is one which it is probable might actually oc- 
cur in real life, or only an invention intended to 
furnish an opportunity and a pretext for the in- 
culcation of the sentiments, or the expression of 
the views of the different speakers. It was the 
custom in ancient days, much more than it is 
now, to attempt to add to the point and spirit of 
a discussion, by presenting the various views 
which the subject naturally elicited in the form 
of a conversation arising out of circumstances 
invented to sustain it. The incident in such 
cases was, of course, a fiction, contrived to fur- 
nish points of attachment for the dialogue — a 
sort of trellis, constructed artificially to support 
the vine. 

We shall present in this chapter some speci- 
mens of these conversations, which will give the 
reader a much more distinct idea of the nature 
of them than any general description can con- 
vey. 

At one time in the course of Cyrus's career, 
just after he had obtained some great victory, 
and was celebrating his triumphs, in the midst 
of his armies, with spectacles and games, he 
instituted a series of races, in which the various 



Conversations. 255 

Grand procession. The races. The Sacian. His success. 

nations that were represented in his army fur- 
nished their several champions as competitors. 
The army marched out from the city which 
Cyrus had captured, and where he was then 
residing, in a procession of the most imposing 
magnificence. Animals intended to be offered 
in sacrifice, caparisoned in trappings of gold, 
horsemen most sumptuously equipped, chariots 
of war splendidly built and adorned, and ban- 
ners and trophies of every kind, were conspicu- 
ous in the train. When the vast procession 
reached the race-ground, the immense concourse 
was formed in ranks around it, and the racing 
went on. 

When it came to the turn of the Sacian 
nation to enter the course, a private man, of 
no apparent importance in respect to his rank 
or standing, came forward as the champion; 
though the man appeared insignificant, his horse 
was as fleet as the wind. He flew around the 
arena with astonishing speed, and came in at 
the goal while his competitor was still midway 
of the course. Every body was astonished at 
this performance. Cyrus asked the Sacian 
whether he would be willing to sell that horse, 
if he could receive a kingdom in exchange for 
it — kingdoms being the coin with which such 



256 Cyrus the Great. 

Mode of finding a worthy man, Pheraulas wounded. 

sovereigns as Cyrus made their purchases. The 
Sacian replied that he would not sell his horse 
for any kingdom, but that he would readily give 
him away to oblige a worthy man. 

" Come with me," said Cyrus, " and I will 
show you where you may throw blindfold, and 
not miss a worthy man." 

So saying, Cyrus conducted the Sacian to a 
part of the field where a number of his officers 
and attendants were moving to and fro, mount- 
ed upon their horses, or seated in their chariots 
of war. The Sacian took up a hard clod of 
earth from a bank as he walked along. At 
length they were in the midst of the group. 

" Throw !" said Cyrus. 

The Sacian shut his eyes and threw. 

It happened that, just at that instant, an of- 
ficer named Pheraulas was riding by. He was 
conveying some orders which Cyrus had given 
him to another part of the field. Pheraulas had 
been originally a man of humble life, but he had 
been advanced by Cyrus to a high position on 
account of the great fidelity and zeal which he 
had evinced in the performance of his duty. 
The clod which the Sacian threw struck Phe- 
raulas in the mouth, and wounded him severely. 
Now it is the part of a good soldier to stand at 



Conversations. 257 

Pheraules pursues his course. He receives the Sacian's horse- 

his post or to press on, in obedience to his or- 
ders, as long as any physical capacity remains ; 
and Pheraulas, true to his military obhgation, 
rode on without even turning to see whence and 
from what cause so unexpected and violent an 
assault had proceeded. 

The Sacian opened his eyes, looked around, 
and coolly asked who it was that he had hit. 
Cyrus pointed to the horseman who was riding 
rapidly away, saying, " That is the man, who is 
riding so fast past those chariots yonder. You 
hit ^zm." 

"Why did he not turn back, then?" asked 
the Sacian. 

" It is strange that he did not," said Cyrus ; 
" he must be some madman." 

The Sacian went in pursuit of him. He 
found Pheraulas with his face covered with blood 
and dirt, and asked him if he had received a 
blow. " I have," said Pheraulas, " as you see." 
" Then," said the Sacian, '* I make you a pres- 
ent of my horse." Pheraulas asked an explan- 
ation. The Sacian accordingly gave him an ac- 
count of what had taken place between himself 
and Cyrus, and said, in the end, that he gladly 
gave him his horse, as he, Pheraulas, had so de- 
cisively proved himself to be a most worthy man. 



258 Cyrus the Great. 

Sumptuous entertainment. Pheraules and the Sacian. 

Pheraulas accepted the present, with many- 
thanks, and he and the Sacian became there- 
after very strong friends. 

Some time after this, Pheraulas invited the 
Sacian to an entertainment, and when the hour 
arrived, he set before his friend and the other 
guests a most sumptuous feast, which was serv- 
ed in vessels of gold and silver, and in an ap^art- 
ment furnished with carpets, and canopies, and 
couches of the most gorgeous and splendid de- 
scription. The Sacian was much impressed 
with this magnificence, and he asked Pheraulas 
whether he had been a rich man at home, that 
is, before he had joined Cyrus's army. Phe- 
raulas replied that he was not then rich. His 
father, he said, was a farmer, and he himself 
had been accustomed in early life to till the 
ground with the other laborers on his father's 
farm. All the wealth and luxury which he now 
enjoyed had been bestowed upon him, he said, 
by Cyrus. 

" How fortunate you are !" said the Sacian ; 
" and it must be that you enjoy your present 
riches all the more highly on account of having 
experienced in early life the inconveniences and 
ills of poverty. The pleasure must be more 
intense in having desires which have long been 



Conversations. 259 

Riches a source of disquiet and care. Argument of Pheraulaa. 

felt gratified at last than if the objects which 
they rested upon had been always in one's pos- 
session." 

" You imagine, I suppose," replied Pherau- 
las, " that I am a great deal happier in conse- 
quence of all this wealth and splendor ; but it is 
not so. As to the real enjoyments of which our 
natures are capable, I can not receive more now 
than I could before. I can not eat any more, 
drink any more, or sleep any more, or do any 
of these things with any more pleasure than 
when I was poor. All that I gain by this 
abundance is, that I have more to watch, more 
to guard, more to take care of. I have many 
servants, for whose wants I have to provide, and 
who are a constant source of solicitude to me. 
One calls for food, another for clothes, and a 
third is sick, and I must see that he has a phy- 
sician. My other possessions, too, are a con- 
stant care. A man comes in, one day, and 
brings me sheep that have been torn by the 
wolves ; and, on another day, tells me of oxen 
that have fallen from a precipice, or of a dis- 
temper which has broken out among the flocks 
or herds. My wealth, therefore, brings me only 
an increase of anxiety and trouble, without any 
addition to my joys." 



260 Cyrus the Great. 

Remark of the Sacian. Reply of Pheraulas. 

'' But those things," said the Sacian, "which 
you name, must be unusual and extraordinary 
occurrences. When all things are going on 
prosperously and well with you, and you can 
look around on all your possessions and feel that 
they are yours, then certainly you must be hap- 
pier than I am." 

*' It is true," said Pheraulas, " that there is 
a pleasure in the possession of wealth, but that 
pleasure is not great enough to balance the suf- 
fering which the calamities and losses inevita- 
bly connected with it occasion. That the suf- 
fering occasioned by losing our possessions is 
greater than the pleasure of retaining them, is 
proved by the fact that the pain of a loss is so 
exciting to the mind that it often deprives men 
of sleep, while they enjoy the most calm and 
quiet repose so long as their possessions are re- 
tained, which proves that the pleasure does not 
move them so deeply. They are kept awake 
by the vexation and chagrin on the one hand, 
but they are never kept awake by the satisfac- 
tion on the other." 

" That is true," replied the Sacian. " Men 
are not kept awake by the mere continuing to 
possess their wealth, but they very often are bj" 
the original acquisition of it." 



Conversations. 261 

Singular proposal of Pheraulas. The Sacian accepts it, 

"Yes, indeed," replied Pheraulas; ''and if 
the enjoyment of being' rich could always con- 
tinue as great as that of first becoming so, the 
rich would, I admit, be very happy men ; but 
it is not, and can not be so. They who possess 
much, must lose, and expend, and give much ; 
and this necessity brings more of pain than the 
possessions themselves can give of pleasure." 

The Sacian was not convinced. The giving 
and expending, he maintained, would be to him, 
in itself, a source of pleasure. He should like 
to have much, for the very purpose of being 
able to expend much. Finally, Pheraulas pro- 
posed to the Sacian, since he seemed to think 
that riches would afford him so much pleasure, 
and as he himself, Pheraulas, found the posses- 
sion of them only a source of trouble and care, 
that he would convey all his wealth to the Sa- 
cian, he himself to receive only an ordinary 
maintenance from it. 

" You are in jest," said the Sacian. 

" No," said Pheraulas, " I am in earnest." 
And he renewed his proposition, and pressed 
the Sacian urgently to accept of it. 

The Sacian then said that nothing could give 
him greater pleasure than such an arrange- 
ment. He expressed great gratitude for so gen- 



262 Cyrus the Great. 

The plan carried into eflFect. The happy result. 

erous an offer, and promised that, if he received 
the property, he would furnish Pheraulas with 
most ample and abundant supplies for all his 
wants, and would relieve him entirely of all re- 
sponsibility and care. He promised, moreover, 
to obtain from Cyrus permission that Pheraulas 
should thereafter be excused from the duties of 
military service, and from all the toils, priva- 
tions, and hardships of war, so that he might 
thenceforth lead a life of quiet, luxury, and 
ease, and thus live in the enjoyment of all the 
benefits which wealth could procure, without 
its anxieties and cares. 

The plan, thus arranged, was carried into ef- 
fect. Pheraulas divested himself of his posses- 
sions, conveying them all to the Sacian. Both 
parties were extremely pleased with the opera- 
tion of the scheme, and they lived thus together 
for a long time. Whatever Pheraulas acquired 
in any way, he always brought to the Sacian, 
and the Sacian, by accepting it, relieved Phe- 
raulas of all responsibility and care. The Sa- 
cian loved Pheraulas, as Herodotus says, in 
closing this narrative, because he was thus con- 
tinually bringing him gifts ; and Pheraulas lov- 
ed the Sacian, because he was always willing to 
take the gifts which were thus brought to him. 



Conversations. 263 

Cyrus's dinner party. Conversation about soldiers. 

Among the other conversations, whether real 
or imaginary, which Herodotus records, he gives 
some specimens of those which took place at 
festive entertainments in Cyrus's tent, on occa- 
sions when he invited his officers to dine with 
him. He commenced the conversation, on one 
of these occasions, by inquiring of some of the 
officers present whether they did not think that 
the common soldiers were equal to the officers 
themselves in intelligence, courage, and mili- 
tary skill, and in all the other substantial qual- 
ities of a good soldier. 

" I know not how that may be," replied one 
of the officers. " How they will prove when 
they come into action with the enemy, I can 
not tell ; but a more perverse and churlish set 
of fellows in camp, than those I have got in my 
regiment, I never knew. The other day, for 
example, when there had been a sacrifice, the 
meat of the victims was sent around to be dis- 
tributed to the soldiers. In our regiment, when 
the steward came in with the first distribution, 
he began by me, and so went round, as far as 
what he had brought would go. The next time 
he came, he began at the other end. The sup- 
ply failed before he had got to the place where 
he had left off before, so that there was a man 



264 Cyrus the Great. 

The discontented soldier. His repeated misfortunes. 



in the middle that did not get any thing. This 
man immediately broke out in loud and angry 
complaints, and declared that there was no 
equality or fairness whatever in such a mode 
of division, unless they began sometimes in the 
center of the line. 

" Upon this," continued the officer, '' I called 
to the discontented man, and invited him to 
come and sit by me, where he would have a 
better chance for a good share. He did so. It 
happened that, at the next distribution that was 
made, we were the last, and he fancied that 
only the smallest pieces were left, so he began 
to complain more than before. ' Oh, misery !' 
said he, ' that I should have to sit here !' ' Be 
patient,' said I ; ' pretty soon they will begin 
the distribution with us, and then you will 
have the best chance of all.' And so it proved ; 
for, at the next distribution, they began at us, 
and the man took his share first ; but when the 
second and third men took theirs, he fancied 
that their pieces looked larger than his, and he 
reached forward and put his piece back into the 
basket, intending to change it ; but the steward 
moved rapidly on, and he did not get another, so 
that he lost his distribution altogether. He was 
then quite furious with rage and vexation." 



Conversations. 265 



Amusement of the party. The awkward squad. 

Cyrus and all the company laughed very 
heartily at these mischances of greediness and 
discontent ; and then other stories, of a some- 
what similar character, were told by other 
guests. One officer said that a few days pre- 
vious he was drilling a part of his troops, and 
he had before him on the plain what is called, 
in military language, a squad of men, whom he 
was teaching to march. When he gave the 
order to advance, one, who was at the head of 
the file, marched forward with great alacrity, 
but all the rest stood still. "I asked him," 
continued the officer, " what he was doing. 
' Marching,' said he, * as you ordered me to do.' 
' It was not you alone that I ordered to march,' 
said I, ' but all.' So I sent him back to his 
place, and then gave the command again. 
Upon this they all advanced promiscuously and 
in disorder toward me, each one acting for him- 
self, without regard to the others, and leaving 
the file-leader, who ought to have been at the 
head, altogether behind. The file-leader said, 
' Keep back ! keep back !' Upon this the men 
were offended, and asked what they were to do 
about such contradictory orders. *One com- 
mands us to advance, and another to keep back !' 
said they; 'how are we to know which to 
obey?'" 



266 Cyrus the Great. 

Merriment of the company. The file-leader and the letter. 

Cyrus and his guests were so much amused 
at the awkwardness of these recruits, and the 
ridiculous predicament in which the officer was 
placed by it, that the narrative of the speaker 
was here interrupted by universal and long-con- 
tinued laughter. 

"Finally," continued the officer, "I sent the 
men all back to their places, and explained to 
them that, when a command was given, they 
were not to obey it in confusion and unseemly 
haste, but regularly and in order, each one fol- 
lowing the man who stood before him. 'You 
must regulate your proceeding,' said I, ' by the 
action of the file-leader ; when he advances, you 
must advance, following him in a line, and gov- 
erning your movements in all respects by his.' " 

" Just at this moment," continued the offi- 
cer, " a man came to me for a letter which was 
to go to Persia, and which I had left in my 
tent. I directed the file-leader to run to my 
tent and bring the letter to me. He immedi- 
ately set off, and the rest, obeying literally the 
directions which I had just been giving them, 
all followed, running behind him in a line like 
a troop of savages, so that I had the whole squad 
of twenty men running in a body off the field 
to fetch a letter !" 



Conversations. 267 

Remark of Cyrus, Animadversion of Aglaitadas. 

When the general hilarity which these re- 
citals occasioned had a little subsided, Cyrus 
said he thought that they could not complain 
of the character of the soldiers whom they had 
to command, for they were certainly, according 
to these accounts, sufficiently ready to obey the 
orders they received. Upon this, a certain one 
of the guests who was present, named Aglaita- 
das, a gloomy and austere-looking man, who 
had not joined at all in the merriment which 
the conversation had caused, asked Cyrus if he 
believed those stories to be true. 

" Why ?" asked Cyrus ; " what do you think 
of them?" 

" / think," said Aglaitadas, " that these offi- 
cers invented them to make the company laugh. 
It is evident that they were not telling the truth, 
since they related the stories in such a vain and 
arrogant way." 

"Arrogant!" said Cyrus; "you ought not 
to call them arrogant ; for, even if they invented 
their narrations, it was not to gain any selfish 
ends of their own, but only to amuse us and 
promote our enjoyment. Such persons should 
be called polite and agreeable rather than ar- 
rogant." 

" If, Aglaitadas," said one of the officers who 



268 Cyrus the Great. 

Aglaitadas's argument for melancholy. Defense of the officers. 

had related the anecdotes, " we had told you 
melancholy stories to make you gloomy and 
wretched, you might have been justly displeas- 
ed ; but you certainly ought not to complain of 
us for making you merry." 

''Yes," said Aglaitadas, "I think I may. 
To make a man laugh is a very insignificant 
and useless thing. It is far better to make him 
weep. Such thoughts and such conversation 
as makes us serious, thoughtful, and sad, and 
even moves us to tears, are the most salutary 
and the best." 

"Well," replied the officer, " if you will take 
my advice, you will lay out all your powers of 
inspiring gloom, and melancholy, and of bring- 
ing tears, upon our enemies, and bestow the 
mirth and laughter upon us. There must be a 
prodigious deal of laughter in you, for none ever 
comes out. You neither use nor expend it your- 
self, nor do you afford it to your friends." 

" Then," said Aglaitadas, " why do you at- 
tempt to draw it from me ?" 

" It is preposterous I" said another of the 
company ; "for one could more easily strike fire 
out of Aglaitadas than get a laugh from him !" 

Aglaitadas could not help smiling at this 
comparison; upon which Cyrus, with an air 



Conversations. 269 

General character of Xenophon's Cyropsedia. 

of counterfeited gravity, reproved the person 
who had spoken, saying that he had corrupted 
the most sober man in the company by making 
him smile, and that to disturb such gravity as 
that of Aglaitadas was carrying the spirit of 
mirth and merriment altogether too far. 

These specimens will suffice. They serve to 
give a more distinct idea of the Cyropsedia of 
Xenophon than any general description could 
afford. The book is a drama, of which the prin- 
cipal elements are such narratives as the story 
of Panthea, and such conversations as those con- 
tained in this chapter, intermingled with long 
discussions on the principles of government, and 
on the discipline and management of armies. 
The principles and the sentiments which the 
work inculcates and explains are now of little 
value, being no longer applicable to the affairs 
of mankind in the altered circumstances of the 
present day. The book, however, retains its 
rank among men on account of a certain beauti- 
ful and simple magnificence characterizing the 
style and language in which it is written, which, 
however, can not be appreciated except by those 
who read the narrative in the original tongue. 



270 Cyrus the Great. [B.C 530. 

Progress of Cyrus's conquests. The northern countries. 



Chapter XII. 
The Death of Cyrus. 

AFTER having made the conquest of the 
Babylonian empire, Cyrus found himself 
the sovereign of nearly all of Asia, so far as it 
was then known. Beyond his dominions there 
lay, on every side, according to the opinions 
which then prevailed, vast tracts of uninhabit- 
able territory, desolate and impassable. These 
wildernesses were rendered unfit for man, some- 
times by excessive heat, sometimes by excess- 
ive cold, sometimes from being parched by per- 
petual drought, which produced bare and deso- 
late deserts, and sometimes by incessant rains, 
which drenched the country and filled it with 
morasses and fens. On the north was the great 
Caspian Sea, then almost wholly unexplored, 
and extending, as the ancients believed, to the 
Polar Ocean. 

On the west side of the Caspian Sea were the 
Caucasian Mountains, which were supposed, in 
those days, to be the highest on the globe. In 
the neighborhood of these mountains there was a 



B.C.580.] Death of Cyrus. 271 

The Scythians. Their warlike character. 

country, inhabited by a wild and half-savage 
people, who were called Scythians. This was, 
in fact, a sort of generic term, which was ap- 
plied, in those days, to almost all the aboriginal 
tribes beyond the confines of civilization. The 
Scythians, however, if such they can properly 
be called, who lived on the borders of the Cas- 
pian Sea, were not wholly uncivilized. They 
possessed many of those mechanical arts which 
are the first to be matured among warlike na- 
tions. They had no iron or steel, but they were 
accustomed to work other metals, particularly 
gold and brass. They tipped their spears and 
javelins with brass, and made brazen plates for 
defensive armor, both for themselves and for 
their horses. They made, also, many orna- 
ments and decorations of gold. These they at- 
tached to their helmets, their belts, and their 
banners. They were very formidable in war, 
being, like all other northern nations, perfectly 
desperate and reckless in battle. They were 
excellent horsemen, and had an abundance of 
horses with which to exercise their skill; so 
that their armies consisted, like those of the 
Cossacks of modern times, of great bodies of 
cavalry. 

The various campaigns and conquests by 



272 Cyrus the Great. [B.C. 530. 

Cyrus's sons. His queen. The Massagetae. 

which Cyrus obtained possession of his extend- 
ed dominions occupied an interval of about 
thirty years. It was near the close of this in- 
terval, when he was, in fact, advancing toward 
a late period of life, that he formed the plan of 
penetrating into these northern regions, with a 
view of adding them also to his domains. 

He had two sons, Cambyses and Smerdis. 
His wife is said to have been a daughter of As- 
tyages, and that he married her soon after his 
conquest of the kingdom of Media, in order to 
reconcile the Medians more easily to his sway, 
by making a Median princess their queen. 
Among the western nations of Europe such a 
marriage would be abhorred, Astyages having 
been Cyrus's grandfather ; but among the Ori- 
entals, in those days, alliances of this nature 
were not uncommon. It would seem that this 
queen was not living at the time that the events 
occurred which are to be related in this chapter. 
Her sons had grown up to maturity, and were 
now princes of great distinction. 

One of the Scythian or northern nations to 
which we have referred were called the Mas- 
sagetae. They formed a very extensive and 
powerful realm. They were governed, at this 
time, by a queen named Tomyris. She was a 



B.C.530.] Death op Cyrus. 273 

Queen Tomyris. Spargapizes. Selfish views of Cyrus. 

widow, past middle life. She had a son nam- 
ed Spargapizes, who had, like the sons of Cy- 
rus, attained maturity, and was the heir to the 
throne. Spargapizes was, moreover, the com- 
mander-in-chief of the armies of the queen. 

The first plan which Cyrus formed for the 
annexation of the realm of the Massagetse to 
his own dominions was by a matrimonial alli- 
ance. He accordingly raised an army and com- 
menced a movement toward the north, sending, 
at the same time, embassadors before him into 
the country of the Massagetse, with offers of 
marriage to the queen. The queen knew very 
well that it was her dominions, and not herself, 
that constituted the great attraction for Cyrus, 
and, besides, she was of an age when ambition 
is a stronger passion than love. She refused 
the offers, and sent back word to Cyrus forbid- 
ding his approach. 

Cyrus, however, continued to move on. The 
boundary between his dominions and those of 
the queen was at the River Araxes, a stream 
flowing from west to east, through the central 
parts of Asia, toward the Caspian Sea. As 
Cyrus advanced, he found the country growing 
more and more wild and desolate. It was in- 
habited by savage tribes, who lived on roots and 
S 



274 Cyrus the Great. [B.C. 530 

Customs of the savages. Cyrus arrives at the Araxes. 

herbs, and who were elevated very little, in any 
respect, above the wild beasts that roamed in 
the forests around them. They had one very 
singular custom, according to Herodotus. It 
seems that there was a plant which grew among 
them, that bore a fruit, whose fumes, when it 
was roasting on a fire, had an exhilarating ef- 
fect, like that produced by wine. These sav- 
ages, therefore, Herodotus says, were accustom- 
ed to assemble around a fire, in their convivial 
festivities, and to throw some of this fruit in 
the midst of it. The fumes emitted by the 
fruit would soon begin to intoxicate the whole 
circle, when they would throw on more fruit, 
and become more and more excited, until, at 
length, they would jump up, and dance about, 
and sing, in a state of complete inebriation. 

Among such savages as these, and through 
the forests and wildernesses in which they liv- 
ed, Cyrus advanced till he reached the Araxes. 
Here, after considering, for some time, by what 
means he could best pass the river, he determ- 
ined to build a floating bridge, by means of 
boats and rafts obtained from the natives on the 
banks, or built for the purpose. It would be 
obviously much easier to transport the army by 
using these boats and rafts to float the men 



B.C. 530.] Death of Cyrus. 275 

Difficulties of crossing the river. Embassage from Tomyris. 

across, instead of constructing a bridge with 
them ; but this would not have been safe, for 
the transportation of the army by such a means 
would be gradual and slow ; and if the enemy 
were lurking in the neighborhood, and should 
make an attack upon them in the midst of the 
operation, while a part of the army were upon 
one bank and a part upon the other, and another 
portion still, perhaps, in boats upon the stream, 
the defeat and destruction of the whole would 
be almost inevitable. Cyrus planned the for- 
mation of the bridge, therefore, as a means of 
transporting his army in a body, and of land- 
ing them on the opposite bank in solid columns, 
which could be formed into order of battle with- 
out any delay. 

While Cyrus was engaged in the work of 
constructing the bridge, embassadors appeared, 
who said that they had been sent from Tomyris. 
She had commissioned them, they said, to warn 
Cyrus to desist entirely from his designs upon 
her kingdom, and to return to his own. This 
would be the wisest course, too, Tomyris said, 
for himself, and she counseled him, for his own 
welfare, to follow it. He could not foresee the 
result, if he should invade her dominions and 
encounter her armies. Fortune had favored 



276 Cyrus the Great. [B.C. 530. 

Warning of Tomyris. Cyrus calls a council of war. 

him thus far, it was true, but fortune might 
change, and he might find himself, before he 
was aware, at the end of his victories. Still, 
she said, she had no expectation that he would 
be disposed to listen to this warning and ad- 
vice, and, on her part, she had no objection to 
his persevering in his invasion. She did not 
fear him. He need not put himself to the ex- 
pense and trouble of building a bridge across 
the Araxes. She would agree to withdraw all 
her forces three days' march into her own coun- 
try, so that he might cross the river safely and 
at his leisure, and she would await him at 
the place where she should have encamped ; 
or, if he preferred it, she would cross the river 
and meet him on his own side. In that case, 
he must retire three days' march from the river, 
so as to afford her the same opportunity to make 
the passage undisturbed which she had offered 
him. She would then come over and march 
on to attack him. She gave Cyrus his option 
which branch of this alternative to choose. 

Cyrus called a council of war to consider the 
question. He laid the case before his officers 
and generals, and asked for their opinion. They 
were unanimously agreed that it would be best 
for him to accede to the last of the two propo- 



B.C. 530.] Death op Cyrus. 277 

Opinion of the officers. Dissent of Croesus. 

sals made to him, viz., to draw back three days' 
journey toward his own dominions, and wait 
for Tomyris to come and attack him there. 

There was, however, one person present at 
this consultation, though not regularly a mem- 
ber of the council, who gave Cyrus different 
advice. This was Croesus, the fallen king of 
Lydia. Ever since the time of his captivity, 
he had been retained in the camp and in the 
household of Cyrus, and had often accompanied 
him in his expeditions and campaigns. Though 
a captive, he seems to have been a friend ; at 
least, the most friendly relations appeared to 
subsist between him and his conqueror ; and 
he often figures in history as a wise and honest 
counselor to Cyrus, in the various emergencies 
in which he was placed. He was present on 
this occasion, and he dissented from the opin- 
ion which was expressed by the officers of the 
army. 

^'I ought to apologize, perhaps," said he, 
" for presuming to offer any counsel, captive as 
I am ; but I have derived, in the school of ca- 
lamity and misfortune in which I have been 
taught, some advantages for learning wisdom 
which you have never enjoyed. It seems to 
me that it will be much better for you not to 



278 Cyrus the Great. [B.C. 530. 

Speech of Croesus. His advice to Cyrus. 

fall back, but to advance and attack Tomyris 
in her own dominions ; for, if you retire in this 
manner, in the first place, the act itself is dis- 
creditable to you : it is a retreat. Then, if, in 
the battle that follows, Tomyris conquers you, 
she is already advanced three days' march into 
your dominions, and she may go on, and, before 
you can take measures for raising another army, 
make herself mistress of your empire. On the 
other hand, if, in the battle, you conquer her, you 
will be then six days' march back of the posi- 
tion which you would occupy if you were to 
advance now. 

"I will propose," continued Croesus, "the 
following plan : Cross the river according to 
Tomyris's offer, and advance the three days' 
journey into her country. Leave a small part 
of your force there, with a great abundance of 
your most valuable baggage and supplies — lux- 
uries of all kinds, and rich wines, and such ar- 
ticles as the enemy will most value as plunder. 
Then fall back with the main body of your army 
toward the river again, in a secret manner, and 
encamp in an ambuscade. The enemy will at- 
tack your advanced detachment. They will 
conquer them. They will seize the stores and 
supplies, and will suppose that your whole army 



B.C.530.] Death of Cyrus. 279 

Cyrus adopts the plan of Croesus. His reply to Tomyris. 

is vanquished. They will fall upon the plunder 
in disorder, and the discipline of their army will 
be overthrown. They will go to feasting upon 
the provisions and to drinking the wines, and 
then, when they are in the midst of their fes- 
tivities and revelry, you can come back sud- 
denly with the real strength of your army, and 
wholly overwhelm them." 

Cyrus determined to adopt the plan which 
Croesus thus recommended. He accordingly 
gave answer to the embassadors of Tomyris that 
he would accede to the first of her proposals. 
If she would draw back from the river three 
days' march, he would cross it with his army 
as soon as practicable, and then come forward 
and attack her. The embassadors received 
this message, and departed to deliver it to their 
queen. She was faithful to her agreement, and 
drew her forces back to the place proposed, and 
left them there, encamped under the command 
of her son. 

Cyrus seems to have felt some forebodings 
in respect to the manner in which this expedi- 
tion was to end. He was advanced in life, and 
not now as well able as he once was to endure 
the privations and hardships of such campaigns. 
Then, the incursion which he was to make was 



280 Cyrus the Great. [B.C. 530. 

Forebodings of Cyrua. He appoints Cambyses regent 



into a remote, and wild, and dangerous country, 
and he could not but be aware that he might 
never return. Perhaps he may have had some 
compunctions of conscience, too, at thus wan- 
tonly disturbing the peace and invading the ter- 
ritories of an innocent neighbor, and his mind 
may have been the less at ease on that account. 
At any rate, he resolved to settle the affairs of 
his government before he set out, in order to se- 
cure both the tranquillity of the country while 
he should be absent, and the regular transmis- 
sion of his power to his descendants in case he 
should never return. 

Accordingly, in a very formal manner, and 
in the presence of all his army, he delegated 
his power to Cambyses, his son, constituting 
him regent of the realm during his absence. 
He committed Croesus to his son's special care, 
charging him to pay him every attention and 
honor. It was arranged that these persons, as 
well as a considerable portion of the army, and 
a large number of attendants that had followed 
the camp thus far, were not to accompany the 
expedition across the river, but were to remain 
behind and return to the capital. These ar- 
rangements bemg all thus finally made, Cyrus 
took leave of his son and of Croesus, crossed the 



B.C.530.] Death of Cyrus. 281 

Hystaspes. His son Darius. Cyrus's dream. 

river with that part of the army which was to 
proceed, and commenced his march. 

The uneasiness and anxiety which Cyrus 
seems to have felt in respect to his future fate 
on this memorable march affected even his 
dreams It seems that there was among the 
officers of his army a certaia general named 
Hystaspes. He had a son named Darius, then 
a youth of about twenty years of age, who had 
been left at home, in Persia, when the army 
marched, not being old enough to accompany 
them. Cyrus dreamed, one night, immediately 
after crossing the river, that he saw this young 
Darius with wings on his shoulders, that ex- 
tended, the one over Asia and the other over 
Europe, thus overshadowing the world. When 
Cyrus awoke and reflected upon his dream, it 
seemed to him to portend that Darius might 
be aspiring to the government of his empire. 
He considered it a warning intended to put him 
on his guard. 

When he awoke in the morning, he sent for 
Hystaspes, and related to him his dream. " I 
am satisfied," said he, ''that it denotes that 
your son is forming ambitious and treasonable 
designs. Do you, therefore, return home, and 
arrest him in this fatal course. Secure him, 



282 Cyrus the Great. [B.C. 530. 

Hystaspes's commission. Cyrus marches into the queen's country. 

and let him be ready to give me an account of 
his conduct when I shall return." 

Hystaspes, having received this commission, 
left the army and returned. The name of this 
Hystaspes acquired a historical immortality in 
a very singular way, that is, by being always 
used as a part of the appellation by which to 
designate his distinguished son. In after years 
Darius did attain to a very extended power. 
He became Darius the Great. As, however, 
there wer^ several other Persian monarchs called 
Darius, some of whom were nearly as great as 
this the first of the name, the usage was grad- 
ually established of calling him Darius Hystas- 
pes ; and thus the name of the father has be- 
come familiar to all mankind, simply as a con- 
sequence and pendant to the celebrity of the son. 

After sending off Hystaspes, Cyrus went on. 
He followed, in all respects, the plan of Croesus. 
He marched his army into the country of To- 
myris, and advanced until he reached the point 
agreed upon. Here he stationed a feeble por- 
tion of his army, with great stores of provisions 
and wines, and abundance of such articles as 
would be prized by the barbarians as booty. 
He then drew back with the main body of his 
army toward the Araxes, and concealed his 



B.C. 530.] Death of Cyrus. 283 

Success of the stratagem. Spargapizea taken prisoner. 

forces in a hidden encampment. The result 
was as Croesus had anticipated. The body 
which he had left was attacked by the troops 
of Tomyris, and effectually routed. The pro- 
visions and stores fell into the hands of the vic- 
tors. They gave themselves up to the most 
unbounded joy, and their whole camp was soon 
a universal scene of rioting and excess. Even 
the commander, Spargapizes, Tomyris's son, 
became intoxicated with the wine. 

While things were in this state, the main 
body of the army of Cyrus returned suddenly 
and unexpectedly, and fell upon their now help- 
less enemies with a force which entirely over- 
whelmed them. The booty was recovered, large 
numbers of the enemy were slain, and others 
were taken prisoners. Spargapizes himself was 
captured ; his hands were bound ; he was tak- 
en into Cyrus's camp, and closely guarded. 

The result of this stratagem, triumphantly 
successful as it was, would have settled the 
contest, and made Cyrus master of the whole 
realm, if, as he, at the time, supposed was the 
case, the main body of Tomyris's forces had 
been engaged in this battle ; but it seems that 
Tomyris had learned, by reconnoiterers and 
spies, how large a force there was in Cyrus's 



284 Cyrus the Great. [B.C.530. 

Tomyris's concern for her son's safety. Her conciliatory message. 

camp, and had only sent a detachment of her 
own troops to attack them, not judging it nec- 
essary to call out the whole. Two thirds of her 
army remained still uninjured. With this large 
force she would undoubtedly have advanced 
without any delay to attack Cyrus again, were 
it not for her maternal concern for the safety of 
her son. He was in Cyrus's power, a helpless 
captive, and she did not know to what cruelties 
he would be exposed if Cyrus were to be exas- 
perated against her. While her heart, there- 
fore, was burning with resentment and anger, 
and with an almost uncontrollable thirst for re- 
venge, her hand was restrained. She kept back 
her army, and sent to Cyrus a conciliatory 
message. 

She said to Cyrus that he had no cause to be 
specially elated at his victory ; that it was only 
one third of her forces that had been engaged, 
and that with the remainder she held him com- 
pletely in her power. She urged him, there- 
fore, to be satisfied with the injury which he 
had already inflicted upon her by destroying 
one third of her army, and to liberate her son, 
retire from her dominions, and leave her in 
peace. If he would do so, she would not molest 
him in his departure ; but if he would not, she 



B.C. 530.] Death of Cyrus. 285 

Mortification of Spargapizes. Cyrus gives him liberty within the camp. 

swore by the sun, the great god which she and 
her countrymen adored, that, insatiable as he 
was for blood, she would give it to him till he 
had his fill. 

Of course Cyrus was not to be frightened by 
such threats as these. He refused to deliver 
up the captive prince, or to withdraw from the 
country, and both parties began to prepare 
again for war. 

Spargapizes was intoxicated when he was 
taken, and was unconscious of the calamity 
which had befallen him. When at length he 
awoke from his stupor, and learned the full ex- 
tent of his misfortune, and of the indelible dis- 
grace which he had incurred, he was over- 
whelmed with astonishment, disappointment, 
and shame. The more he reflected upon his 
condition, the more hopeless it seemed. Even 
if his life were to be spared, and if he were to 
recover his liberty, he never could recover his 
honor. The ignominy of such a defeat and such 
a captivity, he knew well, must be indelible. 

He begged Cyrus to loosen his bonds and al- 
low him personal liberty within the camp. Cy- 
rus, pitying, perhaps, his misfortunes, and the 
deep dejection and distress which they occasion- 
ed, acceded to this request. Spargapizes watch- 



286 Cyrus the Great. [B.C. 530. 

Death of Spargapizes. Grief and rage of Tomyris. 

ed an opportunity to seize a weapon when he 
was not observed by his guards, and killed him- 
self. 

His mother Tomyris, when she heard, of his 
fate, was frantic with grief and rage. She con- 
sidered Cyrus as the wanton destroyer of the 
peace of her kingdom and the murderer of her 
son, and she had now no longer any reason for 
restraining her thirst for revenge. She imme- 
diately began to concentrate her forces, and to 
summon all the additional troops that she could 
obtain from every part of her kingdom. Cyrus, 
too, began in earnest to strengthen his lines, 
and to prepare for the great final struggle. 

At length the armies approached each other, 
and the battle began. The attack was com- 
menced by the archers on either side, who shot 
showers of arrows at their opponents as they 
were advancing. When the arrows were spent, 
the men fought hand to hand, with spears, and 
javelins, and swords. The Persians fought 
desperately, for they fought for their lives. 
They were in the heart of an enemy's country, 
with a broad river behind them to cut off their 
retreat, and they were contending with a wild 
and savage foe, whose natural barbarity was 
rendered still more ferocious and terrible than 



i5.C.530.] Death of Cyrus. 287 



The great battle. Cyrus is defeated and slain. 

ever by the exasperation which they felt, in 
sympathy with their injured queen. For a long 
time it was wholly uncertain which side would 
win the day. The advantage, here and there 
along the lines, was in some places on one side, 
and in some places on the other ; but, though 
overpowered and beaten, the several bands, 
whether of Persians or Scythians, would nei- 
ther retreat nor surrender, but the survivors, 
when their comrades had fallen, continued to 
fight on till they were all slain. It was evident, 
at last, that the Scythians were gaining the 
day. When night came on, the Persian army 
was found to be almost wholly destroyed ; the 
remnant dispersed. When all was over, the 
Scythians, in exploring the field, found the dead 
body of Cyrus among the other ghastly and 
mutilated remains which covered the ground. 
They took it up with a ferocious and exulting 
joy, and carried it to Tomyris. 

Tomyris treated it with every possible in- 
dignity. She cut and mutilated the lifeless 
form, as if it could still feel the injuries inflict- 
ed by her insane revenge. ' ' Miserable wretch !" 
said she; "though I am in the end your con- 
queror, you have ruined my peace and hap- 
piness forever. You have murdered my son. 



288 Cyrus the Great. [B.C. 530. 

Tomyris'a treatment of Cyrus's body. Reflections. 

But I promised you your fill of blood, and you 
shall have it." So saying, she filled a can with 
Persian blood, obtained, probably, by the execu- 
tion of her captives, and, cutting off the head of 
her victim from the body, she plunged it in, ex- 
claiming, "Drink there, insatiable monster, till 
your murderous thirst is satisfied." 

This was the end of Cyrus. Cambyses, his 
son, whom he had appointed regent during his 
absence, succeeded quietly to the government 
of his vast dominions. 

In reflecting on this melancholy termination 
of this great conqueror's history, our minds nat- 
urally revert to the scenes of his childhood, and 
we wonder that so amiable, and gentle, and 
generous a boy should become so selfish, and 
unfeeling, and overbearing as a man. But 
such are the natural and inevitable effects of 
ambition and an inordinate love of power. The 
history of a conqueror is always a tragical and 
melancholy tale. He begins life with an ex- 
hibition of great and noble qualities, which 
awaken in us, who read his history, the same 
admiration that was felt for him, personally, by 
his friends and countrymen while he lived, and 
on which the vast ascendency which he acquired 
over the minds of his fellow-men, and which led 



B.C. 530.] Death of Cyrus. 289 

Hard-he artedness, selfishness, and cruelty characterize the ambitious. 

to his power and fame, was, in a great measure, 
founded. On the other hand, he ends life neg- 
lected, hated, and abhorred. His ambition has 
been gratified, but the gratification has brought 
with it no substantial peace or happiness ; on 
the contrary, it has filled his soul with uneasi- 
ness, discontent, suspiciousness, and misery. 
The histories of heroes would be far less pain- 
ful in the perusal if we could reverse this moral 
change of' character, so as to have the cruel- 
ty, the selfishness, and the oppression exhaust 
themselves in the comparatively unimportant 
transactions of early life, and the spirit of kind- 
ness, generosity, and beneficence blessing and 
beautifying its close. To be generous, disin- 
terested, and noble, seems to be necessary as 
the precursor of great military success : and to 
be hard-hearted, selfish, and cruel is the almost 
inevitable consequence of it. The exceptions 
to this rule, though some of them are very 
splendid, are yet very few. 



The End. 



iBBOTf 'i lliTOEliS 



IN COURSE OF PUBLICATION 

*** Each Volume of this Series is printed and bound 
uniform with the other Volumes, and is adorned with a 
richly-illuminated title-page and numerous Engravings. 
12mo, Muslin, plain edges, 60 cents per volume ; Muslin, 
gilt edges, 75 cents per volume. 

Blarq (hum nf Irnte. 

This history is given here minute in every point of real interest, and 
without the encumbrance of useless opinions. There is no sentence 
thrown away— no time lost in mere ornament. Perhaps no book extant 
containing- so few pages, can be said to convey so many genuine historical 
facts. There is here no attempt to glaze over recorded truth, or win the 
reader by sophistry to opinions merely those of the author. The pure, 
simple history of Queen Mary is placed before the reader, and each one 
is left to form an unbiased opinion from events impartially recorded there. 
One great and most valuable feature in this little work is a map of Scot- 
land, with many engravings of the royal castles and wild scenes connect- 
ed with Mary's history. There is also a beautiful portrait of the Queen, 
and a richly illuminated title-page such as only the Harpers can get uo. 
— National Magazine. 



(hum Cii|nktjr. 



Full of instructive and heart-stirring incident, displayed by the hana 
of a master. "^Ve doubt whether old Queen Bess ever before had so mucli 
justice done to her within the same compass. Such a pen as Jacob Ab- 
bott wields, especially in this department of our literature, has no right 
to lie still. — Albany Express 



2 Adbotfs Historical Series. 

Cljarlfs ttff fmi 

We incline to think that there never was before so much said about 
this unfortunate monarch in so short a space ; so much to the purpose , 
•with so much impartiality ; and in such a style as jusi suits those for 
whom it is designed — the " two millions" of young- persons in the United 
States, who ought to be supplied with such works as these. The en- 
gravings represent the prominent persons and places of the history, and 
are well executed. The portrait of John Hampden is charming. The 
antique title-page is rich. — Southern Christian Advocate. 



IBantiikl t^t Cartjjngimati. 

Anew volume of the series projected by the skillful book-manufacturer, 
Mr. Abbott, who displays no little tact in engaging the attention of that 
marvellous body " the reading public" in old scholastic topics hitherto 
almost exclusively the property of the learned. The latter, with their 
ingenious implements of lexicons and scholia, will be in no danger of be- 
ing superseded, however, while the least-furnished reader may gain 
something from the attractively-printed and easily-perused volumes of 
Mr. Abbott. The story of Hannibal is well adapted for popular treatment, 
and loses nothing for this purpose in the present explanatory and picto- 
rial version. — Literary World. 



Mm Mmtltt 

In a style copious and yet forcible, with an expression singularly clear 
and happy, and in language exceedingly chaste and at times very beau 
tiful, he has given us a plain, unvarnished narrative of facts, as he him 
self says, unclogged by individual reflections which would " only encum- 
ber rather than enforce." The present work wants none of the interest 
inseparably connecting itself with the preceding numbers of the same 
series, but is characterized throughout by the same peculiar beauties 
riveting the attention and deeply engraving on the mind the information 
with which tliey every where teem. — Evening Mirror. 



AbbotVs Historical Series. 3 

The histDry of Alexander the Great, as penned by Jacob Abbott, will 
be read with thrilling interest. It is profusely embellisbed, containing 
roaps of the Expedition of Alexander, of Macedon and Greece, the plain 
of Troy, the Granicus, and the plain of Issus ; and engravings of Alex 
ander and Bucephalus ; Paris and Helen ; the bathing in the river Cyn 
dus ; the siege of Tyre ; Alexander at the siege of Susa ; and the pro 
posed improvement of Mount Athos. It is written in a most graphic and 
attractive style. — Spectator. 

Cljarlts tjit $nmt 

A valuable engraving of Lely's portrait of Cromwell opens the book, 
and there are several illustrative wood engravings and an illuminated 
title-page. This is a comprehensive and simple narration of the main 
features of the period during which Charles the Second reigned, and it 
is done with the clear scope and finely-written style which would be ex- 
pected from the pen of Jacob Abbott — one of the most able and useful 
literary men, as he is one of the very best teachers of his time. — Home 
Journal. 



%lim toar. 



The author seems gifted with that peculiar faculty, possessed by so 
few, of holding communion with and drawing out ardent imagination and 
budding genius, and at the same time of directing both into the great 
channel of truth. The labors of such a man are productive of incalcu- 
lable good, and deserve the highest reward. — New Hampshire Patriot 

Mr. Abbott's entertaining and instructive historical works are becom- 
ing more and more popular, and are undoubtedly among the best of the 
many condensed historic? that have been written. For young people we 
know of nothing more entertaining or better calculated to excite a desire 
to become acquainted with theleading events of history. — Buffalo Cour 



4 AbboWs Historical Series, 

We know of no writer in this country whose style and ability better 
fit him for such a service. They are admirable works for youth, and 
make a valuable fund of reading for the fireside and for schocs. — New 
York Evangelist. 

^ 



'Mxtl \^t (0r!nt. 



History, under the pen of Mr. Abbott, discloses its narratives and ut- 
ters its lessons in a style of great simplicity and intelligence, and, above 
all, with no danger of detriment to morals. He has selected his field 
with excellent taste, and we shall be glad to see his series pursued in- 
definitely. In their line, these volumes have never been surpassed. — 
Baptist Recorder. 

o 

Sarats, %% nf ^nm, 

Mr. Abbott's design to write a succession of histories for the young is 
admirable, and worthy of all encouragement, and the manner in which 
he has executed his work thus far is most excellent. Let him be en- 
couraged to proceed till he has reached the last volume of history, that 
the coming generation may turn from the world of romance to that of 
reality, and learn that what is and has been is as brilliant in chsiracter, 
as glorious in description, and as captivating in detail, as that which the 
genius of fiction ever created. — Observer. 



These historical memoirs by Mr. Abbott are marked by their great 
impartiality, condensation of facts and picturesqueness of style ; his 
practiced and elegant pen has, in Mary Queen of Scots and Charles the 
First, invested the historic page with the brilliancy and fascination ol 
romaiw;*. — Mirror. 



Abbott- s Historical Series. 5 

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history which involve the principles, the causes of human action, and 
which too often receive but little attention from those who write for 
youth, are brought forward into their proper station and so successfully 
treated, that the weakest capacities may become interested and stronger 
ones profited. The maps and engravings, of which there are many, add 
much to their value." 



KINGS AND QUEENS; 

Or, Life in the Palace : coxsisting of Historical 

Sketches of Josephine and Maria Louisa, Louis 

Philippe, Ferdinand of Austria, Nicholas, 

Isabella. IL, Leopold, and Victoria. 

BY JOHN S. C. ABBOTT. 

With numerous Illustrations. i2mo. Muslin, il 00. 

These sketches of the most distinguished personages of Europe are 
drawn by a master hand, and with the life-like distinctness which char- 
acterizes all the works of the popular author. The work is full of ro- 
mantic interest, while at the same time its perusal will enable the reader 
to understand the present state of Europe and of the crowned heads who 
form an essential part of its shifting pageantry. — Ladies^ Wreath. 

Brief, but very comprehensive and glowing sketches of eminent sov- 
ereigns are comprised in this beautiful little volume. The present po- 
litical posture of some of these characters, and the wonderful incidents 
connected with others, give this work almost the air of a romance, so 
eventful, stirring, and unexpected is the history of their lives and for- 
tunes. The views of Mr. Abbott are those of a thoughtful, conscientious, 
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